Re:Why the NBN needs to go the full way
by pugz on Friday September 06, 2013 @01:56AM
(#6338913)
That's true, but light only travels at ~0.67c in a fibre optic cable. That's why I mentioned that fibre optic cables and copper wires are not vacuums.
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Re:Why the NBN needs to go the full way
by retrogradeorbit on Friday September 06, 2013 @01:59AM
(#6338915)
According to wikipedia, electric field propagation through unshielded copper is 0.95c to 0.97c. Electric field propagation through standard coaxial cable is 0.66c.
Hence why zmmmmm was incorrect about the speeds: electricity in the copper wires is travelling faster than light in the fibre optic cables. zmmmmm didn't mention drift velocity, but that wasn't really related to his point.