DVD/CD track spacing and storage capacity

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the experimental determination of track spacing on CDs and DVDs, as well as the subsequent calculations of their storage capacities. The original poster shares their findings and seeks clarification on discrepancies between their results and expected values.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to calculate track spacing and storage capacity based on experimental data and a worksheet. Participants question the accuracy of the storage capacity calculations and suggest potential reasons for discrepancies, including the type of DVD used.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants providing insights and questioning the assumptions made regarding DVD storage capacities. Some participants have noted variations in DVD types and their respective storage capacities, indicating a productive exploration of the topic.

Contextual Notes

There is mention of different types of DVDs, such as DVD-RAM, which may have different storage capacities than the commonly referenced 4.7 GB. The original poster's calculations and the worksheet used are also part of the discussion context.

NeoXx
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Hello,

I finished an experiment of finding out the track spacing of a CD and a DVD.
My laser wavelength was 654nm which I used to calculate track spacing of the optical discs.

I got a track spacing of a CD 1.57um which is close to a real value of 1.6um,
and the track spacing of a DVD 0.72um which is close to a real value of 0.74um.

Then I calculated the storage capacity of both and got 654 Megabytes for a CD which is pretty good but only 2786 MB for a DVD, which is pretty far from its true value of 4700 MB.

What did I do wrong?

Oh here's the worksheet I used to calculate the storage capacity:
http://www.teachengineering.org/collection/uoh_/activities/uoh_diffraction/uoh_diffraction_activity1_worksheet_mhf_tedl.pdf

Regards,

NeoXx
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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NeoXx said:
Then I calculated the storage capacity of both and got 654 Megabytes for a CD which is pretty good but only 2786 MB for a DVD, which is pretty far from its true value of 4700 MB.
Please show your work.
 
This is my second experiment where I got similar data as one mentioned in my first post.
 

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Not all DVD's store 4.7 G bytes. Some DVD-RAM store 2.5 G bytes. May be that's what you used?
 
dauto said:
Not all DVD's store 4.7 G bytes. Some DVD-RAM store 2.5 G bytes. May be that's what you used?

But as far as I know all DVD types have the same track spacing?

As well, I measured the track spacing similar to a normal DVD, and still got 2.8GB...
 

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