Which network communication medium has a single conductive wire surrounded by a grounded shield of braided wire?

• A. Coaxial wire
• B. Twisted pair
• C. Fiber optic
• D. Wireless

Answer: (A)

The central idea is how a cable is built to carry signals with shielding. Coaxial cable has a single central conductor surrounded by a dielectric insulator, and around that sits a braided metal shield that is grounded. This outer shield shares the same axis as the center conductor, which is why it’s called coaxial, and the grounding of the shield helps protect the signal from external interference while keeping a consistent impedance along the length.

This design isn’t what you see with twisted pair, which uses two separate conductors; fiber optic uses glass or plastic to carry light rather than a metal conductor; and wireless is a radiation-based medium with no physical wired path at all.