Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Frank Coluccio Technology Forum - ASAP -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen L who wrote (1546)	5/5/2000 11:17:00 PM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1782

Actually, electrons don't "pass thru" the wire (though they would drift rather slowly if DC current were flowing), the wire simply acts as a boundary condition for a transversal electromagnetic wave which carries the signal - between the conductors and not "in" them. Optical fibers don't have a constant propagation constant, they're normally graded radially. This confines the light via total internal reflection, but not in abrupt reflections against the walls of the fiber - rather the paths are more like sinusoids. I would imagine Frank will have some interesting things to say about "splicing" fibers :-) I can't say much about solitons, other than a little I once learned about Korteweg-deVries dynamical systems, and that was purely mathematical rather than practical. One of these days I should get around to learning more on them.