Why do I get delays on people I call in Great Britain ? there is like a 3 second delay. Or is this George Bush monitoring my calls ?
2007-03-10 02:51:17 · 8 answers · asked by Samantha 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
If you call is being relayed via a satellite from the U.S. (I will assume you are calling from the U.S.) then how far do you think it is actually travelling?
Many of the satellites are in geo-synchronous orbit at about 23,000 miles above the earth and your call has to go over a land line through part of that journey.
Every time it travels through any medium (wire or air) it encounters some resistance so that is may not travel at top speed the entire distance. Then it goes through relays and computers which mix it into the stream being fed to the satellite. The systems then send it to the satellite and back to GB where computers there sort out the signal from the noise and relay it to its recipient.
If you were able to send it via line of sight to GB, there would be no noticeable delay. However, it isn't going to happen.
2007-03-10 03:03:54 · answer #1 · answered by idiot detector 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing can travel at the speed of light, things can travel NEAR the speed of light, but never at it or above it.
Your delay doesnt come from wave speed anyhow, there is a delay because it goes through so many different routers and translators and all of that.
2007-03-10 11:08:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Radio waves and electricity don't travel at the speed of light. Light travels at the speed of light. The speed of radio waves depends on the medium they are propagated through and electricity depends on temperature and the type of conductor. The delay in international calls is from switches and junctions and other crap.
2007-03-10 10:55:48 · answer #3 · answered by Cybeq 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Electricity does not travel at the speed of light--it travels at about 10,000 miles per second through a copper wire.
And, yes, all overseas calls from the US have been monitored for decades.
2007-03-10 11:32:01 · answer #4 · answered by williamh772 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow, some people really need to be corrected. Radiowaves DO travel at the speed of light, all electromagnetic waves do. Light is an electromagnetic wave, just like radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma-ray. Light is only the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
2007-03-10 11:10:21 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Radio and electricity travel at the speed of sound in a vacuum, but they are not traveling in a vacuum. The medium slows the signals speed considerably. and the journey does change states and get rerouted a lot.
2007-03-10 12:16:30 · answer #6 · answered by infinity 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Radio waves travels at the amplitud & length that the wave is.
2007-03-10 11:03:46 · answer #7 · answered by yEya 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they travel a the speed of sound not light
2007-03-10 11:42:57 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋