Does data weigh anything?

wannabedamned said:
ha, So the question wasnt so daft afterall, And data does infact weigh something. Awesome
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Well I was expecting an intelligent debate on Information Theory, Source and Channel Coding, and Physics.

Information requires a medium to be stored in and transmitted through. So with modern computers we use electrons, which do have a physical mass. Early computers used punch cards, where the physical presence of a card at a location denoted the bit. Hence different data on a punch card would have different weights.

Now, what is interesting is when transmitting data over electromagnetic waves. This boils down to a more fundamental question of whether photons have a mass. Now photons are trapped by black holes.

Is it possible to transmit data out from (near the) center of a black hole???
 
Just wondering, but if the center of a black hole supposedly has infinite mass/gravity, wouldn't it pull EVERYTHING in, no matter what distance? Since infinite / 10 is still infinite. So, surely the singularity of a black hole cannot have infinite mass or gravity? Extremely high, yes, but not infinite.
 
^ A black hole does not produce an infinite gravitational force. Its gravitational force is proportional to its mass which is not infinite (it is equal to what went into making it, neglecting black hole radiation). The center of a black hole, the singularity, has an infinite density not infinite mass.
 
Imagine if data DID have mass. Whenever you copy a file, you'd essentially be creating mass from nothing, thus allowing for perpetual motion if you can convert this mass into energy.

That's right. I'm such a dork that that's the first thing I thought of.
 
to be honest, it's possible to test it yourself.

You need a really accurate electronic mass/weighing scale.

Get a 4gb or similar memory stick. Weight it with nothing on there, then weigh it after you've put on 4gb of data. Of course the mass could still change if your scale was REALLY accurate because of bits of dust getting onto the card etc.
 
SlyReaper said:
Imagine if data DID have mass. Whenever you copy a file, you'd essentially be creating mass from nothing, thus allowing for perpetual motion if you can convert this mass into energy.

That's right. I'm such a dork that that's the first thing I thought of.
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So your computer doesn't need to be connected to a power source to work then? :p (And no being a smartarse and saying its a laptop!)

PK!
 
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Data

92390e975c43181292px-Data2364.jpg


Specifications:

All told, he weighed approximately 100 kilograms.
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