How Much Does the Internet Weigh?

Very interesting. I have been siphoning off a small portion of the electrons circulating the internet, and collecting them in a jar. I now have 1 gram of electrons in the bottom of the jar. I'd previously calculated that, by now, I would have about 1/60 of the electrons circulating the internet, so my calculations seem to support the 50 gram total pretty well (well within an order of magnitude).

But what to do with the collected electrons? I am thinking about a game of nano-marbles.

Now Ken, Mmmmm, Right Okay, and what are those funny little voices in your head telling you to do now!!

Reminds me of a discussion I had with an IT Director at Ernst & Young - which is heavier, a brand new laptop or the same unit with a full hard-drive? A number of pints later and we still couldn't agree (I reasoned that the full one was heavier as it had more 1's and 0's in it). I sent the question in to Brainiac, but they couldn't help. Anyone out there??

I have undertaken a project to print everything off the Internet, I am currently sitting on four and half metric tons of paper and 1500 ink cartridges. I am getting sh*tty calls from my boss asking about the excessive use of stationary!!!!!!

Don't know what his problem is!!!!

Anyway, will let you know just how much the internet weighs as soon as I'm finished.

Should be in about 7 years 300 days and 4hours. So would you all stop posting on this site as it just increases the time to completion!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So tell me, how do you get on and off this 4 and 1/2 tons of paper???

If you keep the computer clean, everything else being equal the brand new one will be heavier - due to wear. If we consider purely the effect of data storage on the hard drive, the main effect will be a change in surface adsorption. I don't know, but I guess it will usually increase after a number of write processes. (Of course, the fact that the data on the "full" hard drive has human meaning does not itself change the mass of the drive.)

Thanks, Physicist, does your answer assume that wear & tear makes material fall out of the casing? Regarding the guys below, while questions like this will not make the world go 'round any faster or better, it at least gives us a diversion to ponder, if only for a second or two and are sometimes , as mongoose said, interesting.

In reality, from the keys, mainly. If everything is working properly, the wear on the hard disc should just be on the bearings (both the arms and the disc) - and I think that the particles should be fine enough to diffuse out eventually.

Personally, I find that 'silly' games like this can be good for reaching the parts that other activities are not currently reaching* (BTW, I wouldn't personally touch Heineken - on the other hand I suspect we have rather different views about how Guinness should be drunk, given your Dublin base).
*But need to be careful they don't totally distract the mind from work.

On the subject of the world going round - here's another idle thought: given that a majority of hard discs in laptops rotate the same direction and are (still) largely located in the Northern Hemisphere, how will they have they changed the rotation of the remainder of the globe?

Fyz

re. rotation of hard drives:

I think it would probably depend on how many of those drives are installed "upside down" especially in laptops and other overly space constrained computers.

As Gordie says, there are a number installed upside down or on their end, so that would be a difficult one to quantify. As far as how Guinness should be drunk, I'm open to most ways (in fact, I haven't yet heard of a way that it shouldn't be drunk). Thanks.

Hi

For anyone interested in calculating this (it was a purely idle thought about an effect whose size is predetermined negligible on purely energetic grounds), why not assume (without justification) 50% on end in various random orientations, 15% upside-down, leaving a net "effective contribution" of 20%?.

Regarding a far more important matter: I meant how it should best be drunk, of course. E.g. cold, draught* Guinness vs bottled from the Dublin factory...

*a modern aberration according to some, but perfectly acceptable to me (and, w.r.t. another thread, I don't believe widgeted canned G tastes the same, though it too is acceptable)

Fyz

Of course it's the ones on end that have the greatest effect if they're anywhere near the equator (and the 'various random orientations' matter) the ones that are flat RSU or USD have a greater effect if they're nearer the equator.

We also need to know the mass of the platters/motors and their various RPMs...

My head is starting to spin (must be harmonic coupling)

Goodnight,

Gordie.

I have one question. Who cares?

By Jove, he's got it!!! Indeed, who cares............Here's a clue.......NOT ME!!! Must admit though I do enjoy the interesting comments that come out of a thread like this. It allows normally intelligent, highly skilled people to let their hair down and take the p*ss out of something totally absurd. Keep up the good work guys!