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E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 21:45
by Anakha56
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... -book.html
E-readers get heavier with each book
E-readers are meant to let bookworms carry their entire libraries with them without any additional weight – but the devices actually get heavier every time a new text is downloaded.

The weight difference is unlikely to make much difference to holidaymakers' baggage allowances, however, because each new tome is about as heavy as a single molecule of DNA.

Prof John Kubiatowicz a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, explained in the New York Times last week that storing new data involves holding electrons in a fixed place in the device's memory.

Although the electrons were already present, keeping them still rather than allowing them to float around takes up extra energy – about a billionth of a microjoule per bit of data.

Using Einstein's E=mc² formula, which states that energy and mass are directly related, Prof Kubiatowicz calculated that filling a 4GB Kindle to its storage limit would increase its weight by a billionth of a billionth of a gram, or 0.000000000000000001g.

This is roughly equivalent to the weight of a small virus, while the equivalent number of books – about 3,500 – would weigh approximately two tons.

E-readers could also become slightly heavier in the summer, because they would take on more energy from their exposure to sunlight, scientists explained.

Graeme Ackland, of Edinburgh University, told the Guardian: "If Prof Kubiatowicz is really struggling with the extra weight, he is welcome to come to Edinburgh where it's cooler, and the lack of thermal energy in his Kindle will more than compensate."
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Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 21:51
by D3PART3D
wut

Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 21:55
by KatrynKat
so if i understand correctly, this can also be applied to laptops as well...
that every time i download articles and add data to the hard drive, my laptop gets heavier and i get more shoulder pain from carrying a heavier bag....

hmmm.... interesting...

Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 21:58
by D3PART3D
I bet you don't suffer any neck pain, KK. :P

:run4hills:

Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 22:01
by StarBound
You know thinking about the research costs involved to actually prove this and how it might be better spent reminds me of this ad:


Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 22:09
by KatrynKat
D3PART3D wrote:I bet you don't suffer any neck pain, KK. :P

:run4hills:
you calling me a pain in the neck???

and no... shoulder and back pain i have...

Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 22:17
by D3PART3D
LOL, no.

Anyway, back on topic. Muscle fatigue would eventually lead to that teensy bit of weight feeling as if it were a full physical book. Just try holding your ereader up in the air for an hour. I am glad that science has dispelled the falsities of ereader marketing.

Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 02 Nov 2011, 09:39
by Hman
hamin's pron collection must weigh a ton then.

Re: E-Readers get heavier with each book.

Posted: 06 Nov 2011, 07:15
by Tribble
lol @ video