Does data have weight?

does this onesie make me look fat?
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Data in its true meaning doesnt have weight because data is not made up of physical matter. When you talk about data on a hard disk, the data consists of magnetic flux patterns which are made up by + and - charged units on the surface of the aluminium plate. In a sense data DOES have weight because it needs "real estate" to occupy, so the aluminium platters do carry weight. But not in the quantifiable sense you think of.

But then Again, Data on optical mediums such as a pressed CD or DVD consists of holes in the medium which represent 0's and 1's. I guess you can argue weather these "Holes" take weight away from the medium. So a CD which is fully written may be atomically lighter than a CD which is not written.

The best example of data weight is when you talk about Vinyl Records. Vinyl Records in the begining of last century were made by carving the sound resonance into a wax disk thereby making the grooves. This was then used as a mold to cast the vinyl disks. The "shavings of wax" which came off the vinyl wax master constitute the "data" that was written to the vinyl disk, so i guess you can weigh that data as well.

Where quantifying the weight of data gets tricky is when it comes to Flash/memory based data. The data in this case is not physically stored or embedded in the medium, but rather it is in a constantly electronically suspended state via millions of floating transistors. These transistors each carry the 0's and 1's and can be electronically altered without any shifting in the physical properties of the medium. So the weight does not change on any scale.

So to answer your question, data has weight in some cases, but in the case of Flash/EEPROM i wouldnt say it does.

 

The question is not wether data has weight, but how many people we can get to pony up $1.99/month to do "outsourced data lifting" for!

 

Try weighing your brain before and after studying rocket science.

 

Uh, Pete?????
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brutal... penny not allowed to make a joke?

 

Wait a second dosen't Peter have a daughter named penny?

 

Get a USB port and weigh it before and after it was filled with data...that would be a simple experiment.

You'd need a pretty sensitive scale but...

 

...or a removeable data storage device.

 

AIPS> task "UVPLT"
AIPS> bparm 11,13

 

This discussion reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where it was decided they could save disk space by only using small fonts.

 

LOL

 

Blood just shot out of my ears...

 

Does Data have weight? We’re not talking about Star Trek, the Next Generation here, are we, because it’s a yes. I saw him dent No1’s chair in episode 3. And Lt Yar in episode 8.

If you’re talking about information it all depends on the medium of storage. Sumarian clay tablets? A gravestone? Adding the data (removing bits of clay or stone ) reduces weight. Writing a book? Adding ink to paper increases it. Electronic storage? There is no change in weight, actually there was a theory in the 20’s that electrons made things lighter. Why no change? Basically you are rearranging stuff, you are not creating extra stuff.

Burning a C.D.? No change in weight, again you are just shrinking little bits of plastic, not evaporating them. Your brain? No change in weight in the short term, but in the long term keeping it active will slow down atrophy and shrinkage.

Well, that’s what I think.

 

"Fully Functional!"

 

Actually most of you guys are wrong.

If I have a harddrive with ten gigs of filled space, it will weigh more than a harddrive with only five gigs of filled space.

Remember guys, F = w = ma.

 

.... Read post 3.

 

I did, and I deemed it incorrect.
It is incorrect by the following physics equation.

d = 1/2at^2 + vt

 

In response, I deem your post incorrect. The difference is, I'm right.

Data does not have weight. Never. Ever. Data isn't physical. Asking if it has weight is like asking if self-esteem has weight.

As mentioned previously, you can record data in ways that produce/subtract/require weight (or mass, to be technical), but that is different. You can write down a description of your self-esteem with a blue pen, but that doesn't mean that self-esteem is blue.

 

Whats going on with some of the responses on this forum lately!?!?!?

This guy (that I quoted) is right on the money - how can it be any other way? Data is just information. If I tell you its cloudy outside today - I just gave you data. Did I give you any additional weight? Think about how silly it sounds.

When you start to talk about the recording medium, there can be weight involved, but the method for recording something doesnt have anything to do with the physical properties of what was recorded.

Its like saying "what does red taste like" and someone says "duh, strawberries of course, dummby". WTF?

 

Self esteem may be weightless, but there are a couple of users here who have egos the size of Montana...

 

Metaphysical data does not have weight. Physical data, data that can be uniquely and explicitly stored in one location, can have weight on certain mediums.

If not, then answer this question. If you wanted to store data, say a video or a novel. Where would you store it if you do not have physical matter to store it on?

The answer is you cannot. Whichever way you go about it, data MUST occupy physical matter in one way or another, otherwise it will not exist.

The aforementioned analogy of "writing down your self esteem on paper" is flawed because self esteem doesnt NEED to exist uniquely and explicitely on the piece of paper. It originates and exists in your mind.

Where as data such a a video or a picture, can uniquely and explicitely exist on one location. that location will require physical mass, hence it will require weight.

Thoughts that reside in your mind would not exist if they were not constituted and reconstiuted by the fat/water/electricity which makeup your brain.

DNA is a prime example of gods own data storage device. DNA can store millions of characteristics about any organic object. Youd think your "personality" or your "race" does not have a weight. Well it does. DNA is made up of physical matter and therefore has mass/weight on earth.

Im not arguing that data consists entirely of weight, but I am contending that data can have weight as a characteristic.

I think ive gone off track, but you get my point! I sometimes wonder why we waste so much time pondering cpnundrums like this when the real question that needs answering is weather or not a plane would take off on a runway made from a conve.....