this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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Explain Like I'm Five
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Simplifying Complexity, One Answer at a Time!
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The simple way is like Morse code, variable gaps and lengths of emissions to convey information.
The more complex version is that plus variable intensity and variable wavelengths for a more complex "language".
Ok I understood the morse code part but you lost me after that.
The entire internet backbone is fiber optic cables, so most data is already transferred using "beams" of light.
This is what computers do on either end of the fiber optic cables to transmit the data; except billions of times faster, using multiple "colors" (wavelengths) and similar tricks with light to stream as many 1's & 0's as fast as possible.
If you flip a sine wave upside down (shift it 180 degrees), it can mean "1." If the wave stays as it is, it can mean "0." This flipping happens really fast, creating a pattern of 1s and 0s. That's your data.
A special receiver then measures the wave's shifts and turns them back into the original 1s and 0s.
Instead of just flipping the wave or not, you can also shift it by smaller angles:
This way, each wave can carry two bits of data instead of one, making it faster.
I may be going out on a limb but something tells me we are far off from like transmitting a whole book and storing it in light or beam?
There's no storage in light.
Think about when you talk. The sound comes out, shoots through the air, goes in someone's ear, and then they interpret and remember what you said.
The light is your voice. It is transmitting data, but if there's nobody around to hear it, the data is lost.
The light has to hit a receiver, which translates it into usable data and then saves it to a storage device.
mm I like this, you made it sound so simple!
Thanks! I'm a simple person who is interested in complex things, so I think I've gotten pretty good at these kinds of analogies.