3 ms·
The great circle distance between SF and Amsterdam is about 5,450 miles. A round trip is 10,900 miles. At the speed of light, that's 58.5 milliseconds. So in th
by CobrastanJorji 5y ago
The great circle distance between SF and Amsterdam is about 5,450 miles. A round trip is 10,900 miles. At the speed of light, that's 58.5 milliseconds. So in theory, infinitely efficient computers (and some sort of light-in-a-vacuum wire) and networking equipment could knock 60% off that time, but no more.
However, I suspect one big problem is that there are a number of hops between the Netherlands and San Francisco. I suspect there's not a fiber line that goes right through Idaho to Greenland, then, Scotland, and then the Netherlands. I'm curious what the actual route is be and how many miles are involved.
- prvc 5y agoYou can get it down another 10% again, or so if you dig straight through.
- jsjohnst 5y ago> I'm curious what the actual route is be and how many miles are involved. There’s tons of possible routes, but here is a probable one: SFO -> NJ -> UK -> NL -> AMS = ~6,250mi one way minimum GC distance, probably closer to 7k-7,500mi in reality The majority of transatlantic landings are along the Jersey shore, but could also be Long Island, NY, or Boston / Virginia Beach vicinity too.
- CobrastanJorji 5y agoOkay, so 80ms of light speed travel, or about 120ms assuming today's fiber optic medium, so that only leaves maybe 30ms of potential improvement. Sounds very believable, thanks!