What describes the combined effects of spreading, absorption, and scattering causing a reduction in energy intensity of an EM wave?

The concept being inquired about here pertains to the process in which electromagnetic (EM) waves lose energy as they propagate through a medium. Attenuation specifically refers to the reduction in intensity of an EM wave due to various mechanisms, including spreading, absorption, and scattering.

Spreading occurs as the wave travels outward, causing the energy to distribute over a larger area, thus reducing its intensity. Absorption is when the energy of the wave is absorbed by the medium, converting it into other forms of energy, such as heat. Scattering refers to the deflection of the wave in different directions, which also contributes to its loss of intensity as the energy becomes dispersed.

The other options do not accurately depict this reduction in intensity:

• Interference refers to the phenomenon that occurs when two or more EM waves overlap, leading to the reinforcement or cancellation of waves, which is related to wave behavior rather than energy loss.

• Reflection involves the bouncing back of an EM wave when it encounters a boundary between different media, which does not inherently reduce the energy of the wave in the same way attenuation does.

• Refraction deals with the bending of EM waves as they pass through different media at an angle, affecting their speed and direction but not directly addressing the loss of