Given the worldwide impact of the internet, one would estimate that it weighs zillions of tonnes. Its outreach ability and multi-accessible nature have caused speculations across the globe on the volumes it occupies. The answer to such an inquiry lies in the method of calculation one uses.
An analysis of the internet’s size and functionality shows that it is made up of “super-precious” electrons. Everything on the net consists of data, and this data possess both energy and physical mass. But this data does not weigh more since it is minuscule.
In calculating the weight of the internet, applying Russell Seitz’s method revealed that the internet weighs two ounces, which translates to 60 grams or 0.2 millionths of an ounce (6 micrograms). In coming up with that answer, Seitz guessed the number of servers running the net (between 75m and 100m), their average power consumption (between 350W and 550W), the average voltage inside a logic gate (3V), and the average speed of those chips (1GHz).
Seitz cited that “An ampere is some 1018 electrons a second,” based on increasing the power use at 40bn Watts (40GW). He posited that “Straightforward calculation reveals that some 50 grams of electrons in motion make up the internet.”
Each electron has a resting mass of 9.1×10-31 kilograms, so it takes up many of these electrons to form such a weight.
In performing the same task, Discover Magazine used the weight of a “bit,” which is estimated to contain about 40,000 electrons stored in a capacitor on a chip. An average 8-bit byte only contains four “1” bits (and four “0” bits), and this was multiplied by the total volume of information passing around the net, which is estimated to be at 40 petabytes. The answer acquired is 0.2 millionths of an ounce. But the weight of an electron increases when in motion due to relativistic effects. Because of intense usage, the net tends to slow down when strained by many users across the globe.
The internet contains web pages, pictures, and videos, which are continually increasing daily. The number of electrons in memory does not change but has high energy. Eric Schmidt, ex-CEO of Google, suggested that the internet holds around 5 million terabytes of information. With the contemporary size of information in the present day, it can be noted that “Using the estimated storage capacity, the fact that an electron weighs approximately 9.1×10-31 and the knowledge that there are approximately 40,000 electrons per bit (Cass, 2007) (although only around half of these are stored as 1’s). From Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Initiative, a better way to know the size of the internet is to measure its communication capacity. The Index Initiative proposes that this aspect of the net is “approximately two zettabytes per year,” we can estimate that the internet now weighs around 5 ounces.”
American mathematicians revealed that electrons responsible for storing data have higher energy, which translates to a higher mass. In calculating the size of the net, they used a popular formula by Einstein, which is E=mc2, where “the energy is set with the mass in a direct relationship.” Through such a method, it was concluded that the internet weighs around 50 grams.
Isabelle Robinson concludes it well by saying, “As no one knows exactly how big the internet is, it is nearly impossible to reach an accurate figure.” Because of the different methods utilized, it is hard to find an exact answer on how much the internet weighs, but its weight will certainly climb.
