Which phenomenon can cause the signal to jump to a neighboring conductive path?

• A. Diffraction
• B. Absorption by soil
• C. Deflection to a more conductive conductor
• D. Reflection

Answer: (B)

When a signal travels through buried infrastructure, the surrounding soil can absorb energy from the path, and that energy doesn’t just vanish. The absorption process can cause part of the signal to leak into the earth and couple into nearby conductive paths, effectively making the signal appear on a neighboring conductor. Other phenomena described—diffraction, which is energy bending around obstacles; reflection, which is bouncing back from boundaries; or a simple deflection to a more conductive conductor—don’t capture that leakage through the soil into an adjacent path in the same way. So, soil absorption is the factor that best explains energy transfer to a neighboring path through the surrounding medium.