Interesting discussion would be: Does data have physical weight? Certainly an electron has weight at some level, so a bazillion electrons might have a measurable effect. Sorry for the use of the technical tern “bazillion”. For the lay people reading this, it means, “a whole bunch”.
Yes, you’re flipping bit values from 0 to 1 and 1 to 0, but what does that mean physically?To a degree, it depends on what kind of memory you’re using.If you’re using DRAM or NAND, 0s and 1s are represented by the presence or absence of electrons in a region. You move electrons in or out of the region to change from a 0 to 1 or vice-versa. So technically, I’d say that memory stored in DRAM or NAND does have weight.For data stored using magnetic storage (think conventional hard drives), 0s and 1s are stored by changing the magnetization state of a small region. I don’t think that would change the weight of the region but I’m not an expert in magnetism.“What about moving data?” you ask. There it depends how you move it. If you move it along a wire, then you’re moving electrons, so again, I’d say data has weight. If you’re moving data along a fiber optic cable, you’re transmitting pulses of light, and photons (the components of light) have no weight, so data moved optically has no weight.
Re: “Would an 8 bit word be more massive if it was 11111111 as opposed to 00000000.”Depends. Some systems store a 1 as the presence of electrons. Others store a 0 as the presence of electrons. But whichever logic state has the electrons will be ever-so-slightly more massive.
Packratjohn Premium Member over 10 years ago
Interesting discussion would be: Does data have physical weight? Certainly an electron has weight at some level, so a bazillion electrons might have a measurable effect. Sorry for the use of the technical tern “bazillion”. For the lay people reading this, it means, “a whole bunch”.
Zen-of-Zinfandel over 10 years ago
Funny! But avoid leaning on people during bus rides to work.
CoBass over 10 years ago
Yes, you’re flipping bit values from 0 to 1 and 1 to 0, but what does that mean physically?To a degree, it depends on what kind of memory you’re using.If you’re using DRAM or NAND, 0s and 1s are represented by the presence or absence of electrons in a region. You move electrons in or out of the region to change from a 0 to 1 or vice-versa. So technically, I’d say that memory stored in DRAM or NAND does have weight.For data stored using magnetic storage (think conventional hard drives), 0s and 1s are stored by changing the magnetization state of a small region. I don’t think that would change the weight of the region but I’m not an expert in magnetism.“What about moving data?” you ask. There it depends how you move it. If you move it along a wire, then you’re moving electrons, so again, I’d say data has weight. If you’re moving data along a fiber optic cable, you’re transmitting pulses of light, and photons (the components of light) have no weight, so data moved optically has no weight.
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 10 years ago
Donkey — Oh my, yes…. and if you over fill them, they get so fat they can’t even zip their pants!
You’ve never seen one like that?
CoBass…. good to see you again! It’s been ages.Hope you don’t mind my butting in to illustrate the technical details. :)
CoBass over 10 years ago
Re: “Would an 8 bit word be more massive if it was 11111111 as opposed to 00000000.”Depends. Some systems store a 1 as the presence of electrons. Others store a 0 as the presence of electrons. But whichever logic state has the electrons will be ever-so-slightly more massive.