Mel, Voyager is using radio waves, which travel faster than the speed of light (in a vacuum, too!). But my point is more Earth to outside the solar system is ~24 hours so where did circumnavigating the globe get three days of latency?
On Sun, Jul 21, 2024 at 2:29 PM Mel Beckman <m...@beckman.org> wrote: > Chris, > > Of course I do. > > -mel > > > On Jul 21, 2024, at 8:55 AM, Chris Adams <c...@cmadams.net> wrote: > > > > 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> >
