Apparently adding computer data to a drive adds a tiny amount of mass to the drive but I don’t understand how, since surely the number of 0 and 1 changing shouldn’t change the mass of the media.
In: 0
So, APPARENTLY, data is recorded by changing the charge of a location on a hard drive. 0 is the default state, you apple an electric charge to change it to a 1 (I wont get into the specifics of what that entails).
Remember Einstein’s big equation e=mc^2. So e is energy, m is mass and c is the speed of light. This equation defines a relationship between energy and mass of particles. So we have applied an electric charge to the hard drive, which is some amount of energy e. The speed of light, c, is a constant, so we can rearrange the equation to be m=e/c^2.
So for every but that is changed to a 1, you add the amount of energy required to do that divided by the speed of light squared. This is an unimaginably small amount, and I’ve seen some people disagree with the premises, but not provide reasons why it doesn’t work like that
Latest Answers