How fiber-optics works
Fiber Optic Cable - A fiber-optic cable consist of highly thin rods of glass or plastic known as optical fibers; a cable can have at least two rods or as much as hundreds or more. Each rod is smaller than a tenth of thickness of human hair and can carry around 25,000 telephone calls, so one fiber-optic cable can comfortably carry million of calls or more.
Fiber-optic cables move data between two or more places making use of only optical (light-based) technology. If you want to send information from your pc to a friend's pc across the street using fiber optic cable. You can connect your pc to a laser, which will convert information from your computer into a number of light pulses. After moving along the cable, the light beams will emerge at the other end. Your friend will require a photoelectric cell (light-detecting component) that converts the pulses of light back into electrical pulses his or her computer could read. So the whole setup would be like a cool, hi-tech version of a mini telephone network.
Fiber-optic cables move data between two or more places making use of only optical (light-based) technology. If you want to send information from your pc to a friend's pc across the street using fiber optic cable. You can connect your pc to a laser, which will convert information from your computer into a number of light pulses. After moving along the cable, the light beams will emerge at the other end. Your friend will require a photoelectric cell (light-detecting component) that converts the pulses of light back into electrical pulses his or her computer could read. So the whole setup would be like a cool, hi-tech version of a mini telephone network.
How fiber-optics works
Light moves along a fiber-optic cable by bouncing continuously off the walls. Each particle of light bounces down along the cable like a bobsleigh moving down the ice run. You may think that a beam of light, moving in a clear glass pipe, would just leak out of the edges. But if light strikes glass at a really small angle (smaller than 42 degrees), it is bounced back in again—as if the glass was a mirror. This process is known as total internal reflection, which is one of the reasons that makes the light stay within the cable.
