I understand the physics behind how the cables themselves work in transmitting light. What I don’t quite understand is how it’s possible to convert millions of messages, emails, etc every second and transmit them back and forth using only a few of those transoceanic cables. Basically, how do they funnel down all that data into several cables?
In: Engineering
I don’t have a simple ELI5 answer, but I did want to share with you a great article in wired by Neal Stephenson (sci-fi author) where he travels the world learning about and telling the readers all about these transatlantic fiber optic cables. There are so many interesting details, give it a read.
https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
“Information moves, or we move to it. Moving to it has rarely been popular and is growing unfashionable; nowadays we demand that the information come to us. This can be accomplished in three basic ways: moving physical media around, broadcasting radiation through space, and sending signals through wires. This article is about what will, for a short time anyway, be the biggest and best wire ever made.”
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