Once upon a time, Mel Beckman <m...@beckman.org> said:
> Because the speed of light is different in different mediums. It depends on 
> the index of refraction. Most of the Internet is on fiber optics, and the 
> speed of light in glass fiber is dramatically slower than in a vacuum. Long 
> distance single-mode communication fiber typically has a core index of 
> refraction of 1.4682 at 1550nm (mid-C-band). So the speed of light in this 
> type of fiber is the speed of light in a vacuum 299,792,458 m/s divided by 
> 1.4682 = 204,190,477 m/s. You have to add to that the latency of any optical 
> to electrical transformations, which happens in most every router or switch. 
> Three days is probably an underestimate.

Uh, you do know that Voyager isn't unspooling fiber as it goes, right?

-- 
Chris Adams <c...@cmadams.net>

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