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As much as we use the internet, it’s not often that we stop to think about it actually physically existing.
After all, why would we? When every website can be reached from our phones at the tap of a button, it’s hard to think of everything that makes that possible.
Despite how far fetched this idea of where and what the internet even is, one scientist managed to figure out how much it weighs.
Now, before we get into logistics, there are lots of ways in which we could consider ‘weight’ when trying to calculate that figure.
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First to come to mind has to be the amount of infrastructure which is required to keep the internet running for everyone.
Not to mention the number of videos, documents, web pages and more that are stored on physical servers.
From every email sent to comment left, more data is created which is then stored in binary digits and read by computers.
As easy as it is to consider your information floating about in the atmosphere somewhere, it’s probably sitting in a huge data centre warehouse instead.
So, with that in mind, let’s get down to the answer. It’s worth noting that this definition of the internet does not include the apparatus which are required to keep it running.
Scientist Russell Seitz ended up calculating that the weight is around the same as a strawberry.
Wondering what contributes to this physical weight?
Well, this is the electrons which circulate in order for the network to stay up and running and therefore making the internet accessible.
Yep, when you’re watching your favorite videos and checking Instagram, that’s those electrons working away.
This calculation was done by Seitz in 2007, where he worked out roughly how many electrons would need to pass through the internet to maintain the network.
Speaking to The Guardian at the time, he explained "An ampere is some 1018 electrons a second.
"Straightforward calculation reveals that some 50 grams of electrons in motion make up the internet."
50 grams might not be a lot for some things, but for electrons, you need a LOT of them to make up that weight. (Like seriously, a lot).
This is all down to the fact an electron has a mass of 9.1x10-31 kilograms, or 9.1 divided by 10 31 times.
Professor of computer science at the University of California, John D. Kubiatowicz, explained that information does have mass.
In 2011, using the example of an e-book, he explained that they often use a transistor to trap electrons and although the number of electrons don't change.
As per AZO Quantum, he stated: "The trapped electrons have a higher energy."
However, not everybody is convinced. One person took to social media to slam the information regarding weight as ridiculous: "Please elaborate. That is a ridiculous statement."
Other people were quick to point out that this figure obviously doesn’t include all the physical equipment used to keep the internet running, such as cables, routers, data centres etc.
"Not counting all the machines and cables that's needed to keep it running," they brought to attention.
With all the machinery, it would definitely be one heavy strawberry.
