WEBVTT - How Fiber Optics Work 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.640 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everyone, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.040 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.720 and I am the tech editor here at how stuff 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.960 works dot com. Sitting across from me, as he often does, 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.280 staring off into space because he's trying not to smirk 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:33.159 at me, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Checked chicken E 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:38.640 check Chicken E one, two three. Okay, then I'm a 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.320 little okay, all right, let's start well off with a 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:48.080 little listener mail. This is your mail comes from Joseph Business. 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.760 Hi there, Chris and Jonathan. This is Joseph from Dorchester, Ontario. Again. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.000 I had an idea and I thought it would be 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:55.840 cool for you guys to cover in a blog post 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.800 or podcast, which you've probably already guessed from the title 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:02.320 of my email, fiber optics. I'm sure you get ten 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.080 emails a day asking for a podcast on fiber optics, 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.120 but I look through the list several times and wasn't 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.120 able to find a podcast on the topic. I have 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.880 a special interest in this type of data transport, because 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.920 I have heard that my my town might be getting 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.000 some fiber optic lines installed in the near future. I've 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.000 also seen television shows about installing fiber optic lines along 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.120 the Pacific coast of North America to link up to 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.800 Canada and the to link up Canada and the USA 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.080 with the Central and Southern America's but they didn't really 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:32.000 cover exactly how they would work. Of course, everyone knows 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.320 more or less how fiber optics work, especially since they 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.039 have almost made the width of the human hair a 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.280 standard unit of measurement. However, I and I am sure 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.759 many of your listeners would like to know exactly how 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:44.840 they work, as well as if they are really as 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.600 good as they are touted as being. Maybe you could 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.440 also talk about other comparable technologies that we can look 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.880 forward to. Uh, and I'm going to truncate the rest 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:54.280 of his email. He goes on a little bit more, 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.760 talks about how great we are, But you guys know 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.440 that already we all know how great we are, So 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.280 let's just right into fiber optics. Okay, so the width 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.440 of a human here. Hey, I think someone's knocking on 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:10.680 our ceiling. Um. Oh, what a feeling when all right, 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:15.840 let's let's try that again. So fiber optics. Yes. In short, 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.480 it's a long thin wire of glass yep. And it 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.239 has a couple of different coatings on it that allow 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.440 light to pass through this this long wire of glass. Um, 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.880 and it can go pretty far away without any degradation. 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.840 And then you have a something on the other end 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.760 that detects the light. That's the very basic system of 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.120 a fiber optic line. Yeah. Now it has to be 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:43.120 a very very special glass. You couldn't just basically melt 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.120 down your window panes and stretch them out. No, that 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.600 would be a very bad idea, and it would get 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.720 cold at night, yeah, um, and things could get inside 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:59.919 and bats other monsters that begin with be beholders berserker. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.960 Oh no, I don't want any berserkers in the bedroom anyhow, 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:08.880 scom No. No, No, it's a it's a very very 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.400 optically pure glass. It has to be made in a 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.320 very controlled environment in order for it to be extremely pure. 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:18.840 And the reason why it needs to be extremely pure 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:23.160 is because the light that is carrying the signals has 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.440 to be able to to reach as far as it can. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.880 Now that's the thing I mean regards there there are 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.240 a number of different ways to transmit information in a 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.600 fiber optic line, but without having a very pure medium, 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.520 in this case, the the extremely pure optical glass. Um, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.960 it's not going to get very far without help, right, 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.720 So let's uh, let's talk a little bit about fiber 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.040 optics in general, and then we should talk about the 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.840 the process of making a fiber optic line, which is 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.520 actually pretty fascinating. Yeah, it really is. So a fiber 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.200 optic is made up. Fiber optic line is made up 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:02.040 of three parts. You've got the core, which is the glass. Yeah, 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.040 that's that's what the light passes through. Around the core, 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:10.400 you have the cladding, and the cladding is a reflective coating. 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.640 It's that's what allows the light to bounce around inside 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:16.719 the fiber optic line. So when you shine a light 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.320 down a fiber optic line, it's reflecting off of this 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.039 this coating and moving further down the line until it 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.159 reaches the other end. We can get more into that 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.719 in a minute. And then around the cladding you have 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.960 the buffer coating, which is a plastic coating, and that's 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.039 what that's just protection. It protects the fiber from any 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:38.000 sort of damage. And these these glass wires are so 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:42.080 thin that they are actually flexible. You can um use 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:47.560 these two to to wire a a connection that requires 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.880 cornering and that sort of thing. So if you're careful 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.760 with it, you can actually bend this stuff without having 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:55.440 to worry about it breaking. Now that doesn't mean that 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.960 it's unbreakable. It is breaking, but if you are careful 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.080 with it, you can actually corner with this stuff, which 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.280 is good because otherwise it would not be nearly as 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.200 useful if you had to do a straight line to 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.880 line kind of connection. Yeah, that's the whole thing with 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.000 the cladding, because you know, light travels in a straight line, 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.520 So if you get to a curve, what are you 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.279 gonna do? The light would just pass? Yeah, otherwise the 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.039 light would just pass right out of the line and 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.000 it wouldn't get to the other end, and you wouldn't 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.200 have any information. Yeah. The clouding functions is sort of 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.160 a imagine yourself in a tunnel if you will, that 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.040 is completely surrounded, uh, like you're walking through a mirrored 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.960 tunnel that you know, in this case, you would be 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.479 the light source and as soon as you get to 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.080 a curve, uh, you would go straight into the wall. 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.680 Bounce off the mirror and then bounce off the the 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.200 opposite side again down the line, so that allows the 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.600 light to continue to travel through the fiber optic line. Right. 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.240 Another way to think about is get like five friends 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.560 together each uh you know, three of those friends are 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.719 holding yours, and you put one of your friends at 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.400 uh you know, at the other end of say um 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.839 uh an obstacle course or whatever, and you set the 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.240 three friends so that each one's in line of sight 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.160 of the of the one person in front of them 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.279 and the person behind them. So you're at the very 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:19.960 front of the line. You can see one person. Okay, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.360 you can see your friend. We'll call him Josh. Okay, 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:27.039 so Josh creepy hands Clark is he's holding a mirror, 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.040 all right, So you have a flashlight and you can 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.120 see Josh. Now, Josh, he has a direct line of 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.279 sight to you. And the next person who is Chuck awesome, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.920 and Chuck is also holding a mirror, and then uh, 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.400 Chuck can see Josh and can see the person on 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.919 the next step down the line, which will say is 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.159 um Tyler. So Tyler's got a mirror, all right, and 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.480 Tyler can see Chuck and can see Chris, who's at 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.520 the other end. I light up my flashlight aimed over 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.000 at Josh creepy hands Clark, who then tilts the mirror 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.080 in such a way so that the light bounces off 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.400 and goes toward Chuck. Chuck aligns his mirror so that 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.880 he catches that light, and it bounces off and moves 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:13.560 toward Tyler. Tyler then manipulates his mirror so it catches 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.960 the light and manipulates it toward Chris, and then Chris 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.280 can see the light that I am shining, even though 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.400 we're not in a direct path. Okay, so if I 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.080 turned that flashlight on and off, Chris will see the 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.920 light going on and off. I could actually communicate this 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:29.640 way if both Chris and I knew Morse code. However, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.040 since neither of us do know Morse code, or at 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.160 least I don't know Morse code, I would just be babbling, uh, 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:39.280 complete nonsense, which is okay, granted, part of the course. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.679 But it wouldn't even spell out words. But you could 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.080 if both people knew Morse code, which that's kind of 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.680 the basis in a very it's a very simple, yeah, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.120 a very simplified version of what is happening in a 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.840 fiber optic system. You know, there are there are two 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.280 different types of UH fiber optic lines. One is the 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:00.840 single mode, which has a small our core and it 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:06.680 uses in a laser light, an infrared laser to transmit information. Yes, laser. 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:08.600 I knew you were going to do that. And the 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:12.600 other one is the multimode fiber, which has a larger core, 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.160 but it uses uh l ED s yes, a light 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:21.840 emitting diode YES to to transmit information. And uh there 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.440 there actually is a you can use a plastic chord 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.800 version which also uses an LED, but it it uses 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.000 the visible spectrum red light. But that you know, that 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.079 doesn't seem to be nearly as common as the glass 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:37.000 core fiber optic lines. Now, when we're talking about things 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.640 like infrared light, that's light that has a shorter wavelength 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.840 than visible light. Yeah, all right, And in general, the 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.120 shorter the wavelength of light, the further it will go 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:51.240 on a fiber optic line on its own without degrading, 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:56.240 because light signals will degrade over distance. Uh And in general, 0:08:56.360 --> 0:09:00.520 the distance that most companies use to measure a degrading 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.640 effect is the kilometer. So you say, how many you 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.480 know how how much of a percentage of the light 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:12.640 will you lose after a kilometers worth of cable. Oh, 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.640 we should also mention that these these individual fiber optic 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.160 threads are often bundled together in a jacket to make 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.120 a cable. So you actually have hundreds or even thousands 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.000 of these fiber optic lines all bundled together, which isn't 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:27.839 really It sounds like a lot, but if you think 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.840 about it, if they're all essentially the diameter of a 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.320 human hair, you can bundle thousands of these in a 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.280 reasonably small cable and use that to transmit an awful 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.200 lot of bandwidth. And I have to agree with Joseph, 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.040 the human hair measurement is really annoying for those of 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.520 us who are follically challenged. Well you know, and also 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:51.880 depends on the hair. In my case, it's an imaginary number, 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:58.920 so like event twelve or like in um, but minus 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:01.720 in diameter. But that's the thing. If if the glass 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.760 inside the core of a fiber optic line is not 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.480 pure enough, the signal is going to start degrading even 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.440 faster um. And there is something that you can do 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:17.080 about that. Uh. Therefore, four parts to a fiber optic system. Um, 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.599 the transmitter and the receiver, well, I mean those that 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.160 would be the guy with a flashlight and the guy 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.120 looking in my other very simple example, and then you 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.199 get the fiber. Okay, again that makes sense. That's the 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.160 actual cable. But in the cases when you have very 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.640 very long connections, like I don't know, if you're trying 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.840 to connect North America to South America, to use our example, 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.680 you stop. You're going to get more emails about that. 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.080 I love the Canadians, I love them. You you like 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.760 taunting them. I have to tell you, Okay, apart from 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.120 my wife, some of the most beautiful women I've ever 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.720 seen were in Toronto. That is no joke. Okay. So guys, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.800 if you're looking for like beautiful women, Toronto toe Okay. 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.720 So if you were trying to hook up North America 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:08.240 and South America were talking about hooking up to Toronto, yeah, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.880 you would need an optical regenerator, which is back to 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.600 this more or less functions, sort of like an amplifier. Yeah, 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.400 it's kind of interesting, actually, an optical regenerator. The first 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.360 time I saw that term, now in my mind, I thought, oh, 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:27.200 this must be a a device in the middle of 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.680 the line that interprets the light and then emits the 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.920 light on its own, like you know, something that's actually 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.240 receiving the light and then transmitting the same message but 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.040 with at full power. That's not exactly what's happening. What's 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:45.280 really happening is that they introduce certain elements into the 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.440 fiber optic line at a particular distance. It's called doping, 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:50.960 all right. Now, Doping is the same sort of thing 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:53.400 in a in a sense that you use with semiconductors 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.200 that let semiconductors do what they do. It's when you 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:01.040 insert certain impurities in a very controlled fashion to change 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:05.160 the behavior of that particular substance. Now, in this case, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.880 the doping creates this, uh, this material that when the 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.840 laser light hits it, it energizes the material which and 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.960 then emits the same light further down the line. Right. 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.079 The molecules of this substance used to coade the line 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:28.160 function as lasers. This blows my mind. It's fascinating and 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.680 it's really cool. Yeah, I mean this this was one 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:32.400 of those things that I did not know about fiber 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.960 options before I started to really research this topic for 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.880 the podcast. And uh yeah, it's it's the special coding 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.559 that when it absorbs the light and then emits the 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.040 laser light so that you have a strong signal all 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.680 the way down, so you know, periodic points along the line. 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.240 You introduced this doping to make sure that the signal 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.680 that you put in one end will come out the 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.760 other end. And we should go ahead and say that 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.160 the receivers when they receive a light, they're essentially remember 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:05.240 that information is in bits, right, zeros and ones. So 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:10.160 how would you transfer light into zeros and ones? What 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.440 would be the easiest way. The easiest way is to 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.839 turn it on and off. There you go. If the 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.040 lights flickering on and off. I mean we're talking like 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.440 super fast flickering on and off, and you have a 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.000 very sensitive sensor on the other end that can detect 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.120 when it's on and off. That there's your zeros and ones. 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.720 And that's how you can transmit information. And you're doing 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.000 it literally at the speed of light. And all you 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.320 have to do is, you know, plug the cable in 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:36.080 one end and to the other, and you don't have 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:37.840 to worry about whether or not it's going to get there, 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.160 because it's gonna get there. Yeah. Well, assuming there's no 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:45.080 damage to the line. Yeah, exactly, careful call before you dig. 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:50.640 So here's some here's some other interesting information about fiber optics. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.360 Reasons why you might want fiber optics as opposed to 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:59.120 say something like copper wire to carry your information. Copper wire, 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.720 for one thing, is spensive. Copper is not as plentiful 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.959 as we as we would like. So it's uh, it's 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.800 it's a precious commodity really and to you know. And 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:12.880 the other problem is that you need a lot of 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.439 it if you're going to create information lines. And then 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.360 of course, you know, you have the whole mining, which 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.000 is a pretty uh, pretty invasive. There's yeah, it's also 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.960 that's that's the problem. Also, um it generates heat because 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.440 electricity moving a current moving through a copper wire will 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.680 generate heat, um but which is not a problem with 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:37.480 optical exactly. And it also generates radio frequencies because electric 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:42.480 currents can create uh interference. If you're sheathing around a 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.760 copper wire is too weak, you can get these radio 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.440 frequencies emitted as the current is moving through the wire, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.000 which means that you can get interference if you have 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.000 too many uh, too many connections all in one area, 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.800 or too many wires all in one area. The the 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.880 information moving through why can start causing interference the uh 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.960 for another wire. This is kind of like why you 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:07.920 get like a let's say you have a cell phone 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:11.280 and you receive a phone call and you happen to 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.360 have that cell phone next to a speaker that has 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.080 really poor sheathing. That's where you get the did did 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.720 didn't noise? Where that's the interference that's coming through the 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:24.480 speaker wire because it's generated by the cell phone. Well, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.480 with optic fiber optics, you don't have that problem. If 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.840 your cell phone goes off next to a fiber optic line, 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.800 there's no interference with that fiber optic line because it's 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.080 not it's not reliant upon radio frequencies. It's not gonna 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:40.400 affect the behavior at all. Excellent also can hold hold 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.120 more bandwidth than a copper line can. Yep, And so 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.000 you start thinking about this like, okay, wait, it's cheaper, 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:52.320 it there's no interference, it can carry more information. You're 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.680 not gonna lose your signal as much as you would 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:59.720 with other forms of transmission. Um it's it doesn't require 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.280 a lot of power. It's great for transmitting digital information 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.640 because again you're talking about zeros and ones. Um, it's 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.520 you know, it's flexible, it's lightweight. What why would a 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.240 company not use fiber optics. Why would it be so 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.960 slow to install fiber optics? I can tell you why. 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.400 Why Because it costs money to install that stuff and 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.040 you have to send cruise back out to dig up 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.320 the grass again. Bingo. So here's the here's the real issue. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:27.480 It's not that fiber optics aren't great or cheap or efficient. 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.160 The problem is that we already have a lot of 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.480 these systems in place using older technology, and it costs 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.240 a lot of money to rip all a lot of 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.040 money and a lot of time to rip all that 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.640 stuff out and replace it with a new system, which 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.280 is why fiber optic lines are pretty still pretty rare 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.680 in the United States. I mean there are different There 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.720 are cities that have a very very you know, strong 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.080 fiber optic presence, like the fiber optics uh from the 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.920 curb all the way to the home. But um, but 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.320 I would say for the majority of the United States 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.640 that's not the case. Yeah, that's that's true. Um, But 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:02.800 it is it is an option, you know, and it's 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.000 something it's starting to roll out. Yeah, I mean people 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.440 are demanding more bandwidth. So before long you're gonna have 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.200 a lot of companies, a lot of sp s saying 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:16.960 that fiber optics are definitely a good investment because otherwise, 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.840 I mean, eventually you're gonna have companies say, you know what, 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:21.840 if they're not going to provide the fiber optics to 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.720 their customers, there's an area of opportunity for us. If 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:26.879 we move in there and we're willing to build the 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.160 infrastructure that we need, we can steal all those customers 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.720 away because we can provide something that the other company can't. 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.080 So ultimately, I think we will be moving more to 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:41.119 uh fiber optics infrastructure throughout the United States. UM, I 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.760 still think it's gonna take a while, especially in regions 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:49.280 where competition is practically non existent. I mean, in my neighborhood, 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.639 that's pretty much the case. You you have your choice 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:57.080 of one major I s P or nothing, unless you 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.639 want to go uh wireless with y Max, which you know, 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.879 that's a totally different animal because you're not using cables 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:06.400 at all in that case. But yeah, uh so let's 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.919 I mentioned that we you know, it might be interesting 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:10.720 to talk a little bit how about how they make 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.880 fiber optic threads. I thought i'd kind of walk through 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.439 them the process because it is pretty cool. Yeah it is, 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.840 and we actually have a pretty detailed right up about that. Yeah. Yeah, 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:24.959 there's a there's a great article on how fiber optics 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.960 work on how stuff Works dot com. So if you 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.520 want to look into this more thoroughly and see some 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:34.399 really cool illustrations that help you visualize what's going on, 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.280 I highly recommended. All right, But first, what they start 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.639 with is a gas deposition system, a modified chemical vapor 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:46.440 deposition system m c VD. So you've got these materials 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.720 that are all in liquid format. You gasify them and 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.520 you move them into a tube where they then kind 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.560 of combined and cols, and you use a a it's 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.720 actually in a lathe, so it turns you've got a 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:05.440 flo aim on that lathe. And it's a fairly complicated 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.600 chemical process. But you're using silicon chloride and germanium chloride 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:17.240 and uh, eventually this forms um silicon dioxide and germanium dioxide, 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:23.240 and then together these two chemicals form deposits within the 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:28.560 lathe and that ultimately is what makes the glass. Now 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.560 it's not a wire yet. It's it's a sort of 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.960 a cylinder of glass and it has to be basically 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:39.000 extruded out into a long, thin fiber. Right So what 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:43.040 they do is they put the cylinder of glass, this 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:48.760 this very pure glass um into it's kind of like 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.440 a little oven. It heats it up and it makes 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:53.919 the end of it kind of bead up until it 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.560 grows large enough for gravity to pull it downward. So 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.399 then it starts to droop and it pulls hind it 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:03.800 a very thin thread of glass. Right now, you feed 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.640 this through a very special system of of of guiding 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:12.159 devices all the way down into a tractor what they 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.240 call attractor. It's just a simple gear that will pull 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.840 the thread in a very regular way, and it can 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.000 actually react to how thick or thin the thread is 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:25.439 at any particular time to make certain that you have 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.160 a uniform thickness once it gets to the end. Now, 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.760 when you're putting it through these little guides, the guides 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:33.480 help shape the wire to make sure it's the right thickness, 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.000 and you use lasers to measure the thickness of that 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:41.040 wire along the pathway to make certain that you've got 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.560 the right length that those readings are what tell the 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:49.200 tractor how quickly to turn, and they can turn pretty fast. Um. Yeah, 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:53.080 I think it's something like sixteen thirty three revolutions per second. 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.439 I mean that's pretty fast. So it has to be 0:20:55.440 --> 0:21:00.720 pretty precise, yes, precise, in order for it to to 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.719 be you know, the right diameter and the you know, 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:04.840 the right quality of the glass, they have to be 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:07.040 very careful how they do this. Yeah, you want the 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.480 diameter to be as precise as possible so that you 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:14.200 can use the correct wavelength of light through the fiber 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.960 optic line. Otherwise, again, you're gonna have some real problems 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:21.160 with the signal degrading UM over a shorter distance than 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:28.000 you had anticipated. So once you're done with this process, 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.160 one cylinder of this stuff can create more than one 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.120 point four miles of fiber optic thread. Because that's how 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:40.159 we're talking about the thickness of a human hair. So, uh, 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.960 taking a cylinder of glass and reducing it to that thickness, 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.000 obviously the length is going to be quite impressive. And 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.120 one point of our miles is that's long two point 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:56.560 two kilometers to our friends in Europe and overseas, So um, 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:01.320 that's your basic rundown of fiber optics. It is a 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:05.280 really good system for carrying information. Um. And it has 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:08.280 other applications too. I mean it's used in in well 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:12.320 a lot of medical applications. Um. And uh, actually I 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.280 believe that my plumber, as he was trying to figure 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.359 out exactly what was clogging the line U to the 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:22.359 sewer from my house, used fiber optic line to see 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:24.040 what was going on. As it turned out, there were 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:28.840 roots growing in my pipes. Radical. Yeah, nice, thank you. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:33.200 I was feeling a little rancid there. Apparently you were okay. 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.080 So that was a reference. That was not an inside joke. 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:39.160 I just wanted to point that out. Punk rock thing, Yeah, 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:42.439