Speed of signals in digital phone line?

[kejjie]

[SOLVED] Speed of signals in digital phone line?

I know that the rate of information transfer in a phone line is 64 kbit/s. I originally thought that this rate of info transfer was the same as the speed of transmission but I now know that this is not true: the speed = distance / time for signal propagation whereas the rate of info transfer = no. bits per page / time to send one page.

Is the speed at which a signal travels down a phone line a set value which I should know?

I'd really appreciate any help! Thanks

 

[kejjie]

sorry! got the wrong sub-forum...

 

[kejjie]

[SOLVED] Speed of signals in digital phone line?

Homework Statement

Context: an example of signal transmission - fax and the use of phone lines.
Question: State the approx. speed at which the signals travel.

I know that the rate of information transfer in a phone line is 64 kbit/s. I originally thought that this rate of info transfer was the same as the speed of the signal but I now know that this is not true: the speed = distance / time for signal propagation whereas the rate of info transfer = no. bits per page / time to send one page.

Is the speed at which a signal travels down a phone line a set value which I should know?

I'd really appreciate any help! Thanks

Homework Equations

included above

The Attempt at a Solution

 

[dst]

It's an electrical signal so it travels at the speed of light.

 

[mapsurfer]

Electricity at the speed of light? what about resistance, propagation delay, and/or bandwidth? Dont these things factor into the equation? If you really think about it... telephone travels thru copper til it either reaches fiber/microwave or a switch.. there has to be some loss there but you would have to measure with Time Domain Reflectometry or some such. I never assumed electricity to travel at the speed of light because of the medium thru which she travels has resistance. (ie. copper).. fiber may be a different story, however the end to end encoding/decoding of the signal is surely slower than light itself.

Regards,

-map

 

[dst]

Electricity at the speed of light? what about resistance, propagation delay, and/or bandwidth? Dont these things factor into the equation? If you really think about it... telephone travels thru copper til it either reaches fiber/microwave or a switch.. there has to be some loss there but you would have to measure with Time Domain Reflectometry or some such. I never assumed electricity to travel at the speed of light because of the medium thru which she travels has resistance. (ie. copper).. fiber may be a different story, however the end to end encoding/decoding of the signal is surely slower than light itself.

Regards,

-map

Spherical chickens in vacuums, spherical chickens in vacuums.

 

[lzkelley]

When you talk to someone, you say a certain number of words per minute (analogous to 64 kB/s), but that has nothing to do with the speed of sound - which is what is actually transferring those words.
We have sound in the air, and in phone lines we electromagnetic waves; how fast do they travel?

 

[Chi Meson]

It's not electromagnetic waves, per se, traveling through copper phone lines. It is a pulsing electric field. Now there's a connection between these things, but electromagnetic waves are made up of photons, and phtons do not travel through phone lines (optic fiber, yes, copper, no).

Yet it is the same limitation. The electric field does not establish itself through the copper wires instantaneously, and so the modulation (oscillation of the strength) of the field takes time to get from one end to the other.

The speed at which this takes place is nearly the speed at which those electromagnetic waves travel.

 

[Tachyonie]

dst how can an electron travel at speed of light? As far as I know, that's impossible even if we ignore stuff like resistance...

 

[Redbelly98]

I would say that electric field pulses traveling along the wiring are electromagnetic waves, and they travel at the speed of light in the surrounding medium.

 

[huckmank]

dst how can an electron travel at speed of light? As far as I know, that's impossible even if we ignore stuff like resistance...

The electrons drift quite slowly, on the order of millimeters per second, but the electromagnetic wave propagates at a significant fraction of c in copper wire.

 

[kejjie]

thanks v. much! so the answer is: roughly (a bit under) the speed of light

 

[cristo]

This probably doesn't read well, since I've merged two threads on the same questions together, so don't blame me!

 

[Chi Meson]

This probably doesn't read well, since I've merged two threads on the same questions together, so don't blame me!

I was wondering;"What the ... where did those posts come from?"