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Given the chain of connection between information, entropy, energy, and mass, is that 0.2 millionths of an ounce number the theoretical minimum amount informati
by rflrob 15y ago
Given the chain of connection between information, entropy, energy, and mass, is that 0.2 millionths of an ounce number the theoretical minimum amount information-mass of the internet, or is that the amount of mass our systems use to store it?
Assuming that the internet contains 10^19 bytes (10 million terabytes, twice the number given in the video), that's approximately 10^20 nats, which, when you multiply by Boltzmann's constant (1x10^-23 J/K) and Room temperature(3*10^2), is on the order of 0.1 J. That energy, divided by c^2, comes out to 10^-18 kg, or about 10^-17 oz (give or take an order of magnitude or two).
So I guess, really, the internet doesn't even come close to weighing as much as the lowball estimate from the video.
- sukuriant 15y agoI presume you're using e=mc^2 here. That's not how e=mc^2 was meant to be used[1]. And, this is using the actual mass of an electron: 9.10938188e-31 kilograms (Google) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence
- rsaarelm 15y agoI think grandparent is talking about Landauer's principle which relates information and energy, electrons aren't involved in any way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer%27s_principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer%27s_principle
- sukuriant 15y agoOh I see now, and it also looks like he's evaluating the data on the internet, not the internet in motion, which was where the mass-of-a-strawberry idea comes in.
- fragsworth 15y agoI don't think we can have an accurate "theoretical minimum mass" for information because it is highly dependent on our (incomplete) understanding of small particles.