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Watch · Physics, engineering and experiments

Fiber Optics are so much cooler than I thought

The Brief

  • Explains what fiber optics are and how they carry signals.
  • Compares the limited capacity of copper phone lines with optical transmission.
  • Covers why early glass was 'lossy' and how scattering and absorption reduced signal strength.
  • Describes how impurities are removed and how fiber optic glass is manufactured.
  • Traces the technology's role in making the internet possible.

Why watch · It explains how the glass fibers carrying most internet traffic were made possible despite early engineering obstacles.

  • Fiber optics
  • Optical fiber manufacturing
  • Signal attenuation

Summarised by Claude from the video’s title and description – no transcript was available, so check the video for the details.

Chapters

  1. 0:00What are fiber optics?
  2. 2:02Why Copper Phone Lines Had Limited Capacity
  3. 5:13Trying To Go From Copper Communication To Glass
  4. 8:15Why is glass so ‘lossy’?
  5. 11:29Scattering and Absorption
  6. 16:00How can you remove impurities in glass?
  7. 19:00How They Make Fiber Optic Glass
  8. 26:47The Technology that Made the Internet Possible
Show the full video description ›

Why making glass fibers to send signals was almost impossible. Sponsored by Saily - 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Download Saily app go to https://saily.com/veritasium Use code veritasium at checkout ⛵ If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - https://ve42.co/SnatomsV For the latest science news, and for an exclusive bonus Q&A with Sulli, the director of this video, sign up to the Veritasium newsletter - https://ve42.co/VeMail_FO For early access to work in progress videos join our patreon https://ve42.co/VePatreon ▀▀▀ 0:00 What are fiber optics? 2:02 Why Copper Phone Lines Had Limited Capacity 5:13 Trying To Go From Copper Communication To Glass 8:15 Why is glass so ‘lossy’? 11:29 Scattering and Absorption 16:00 How can you remove impurities in glass? 19:00 How They Make Fiber Optic Glass 26:47 The Technology that Made the Internet Possible ▀▀▀ Special thanks to the experts and collaborators who made this video possible: Dr. Donald Keck Prof. Vincent Chan Sir David Payne Dr. Nikola Alic Jim Hayes Jeff Hecht, whose book City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics was an invaluable resource for this video (explore his work at https://www.jeffhecht.com). Diffraction Limited, who made the fiber kits we used and some additional simulations that were critical to our understanding (https://www.youtube.com/@DiffractionLimited) Trulala CANDY Chef (https://www.youtube.com/@TrulalaCANDYChef) Additional thanks to: ROSENDAHL NEXTROM for providing animations and fiber manufacturing 3D assets: (https://rosendahlnextrom.com/fiber/) Bay Area Glass Institute for hosting our team. (https://bagi.org/) Prysmian for giving us a guided tour of their fiber manufacturing plant, and our two on screen experts: Sujeet Rao, Operational Excellence Fiber Director and Jon Fitz, Technical Sales Support Sr. Manager. ▀▀▀ References: https://ve42.co/FiberRefs Note: The skin effect explanation is simplified. The full analysis involves the eddy currents' own magnetic fields, which induce further currents, and so on. Here’s an article on the same: https://ve42.co/SkinEffectDerivation ▀▀▀ Special thanks to our Patreon supporters: Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, André Powell, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Bryan Ackermann, Chris Brewer, Data Don, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, EJ Alexandra, Evgeny Skvortsov