Does the Weight of Our Phone Increase as Its Memory Fills?

Can knowledge have mass? You may not be able to rationalize it, but theoretically it is possible. The data on our phone may also have a mass. Moreover, this situation Based on Einstein’s theory We can even explain.

If you’re confused enough relativity, Drawing on the light of mathematics and computer science Let’s clarify how such a thing is possible.

Yes, there is mass of information.

Information is stored on electrons, and although electrons are extremely small, they have a certain mass. At least it is, as we learned from Einstein, and it is possible to convert energy (E) into something we can weigh using Einstein’s E=mc² equation. But before moving on to mass difference How and why energy levels change let’s see.

The difference is obvious when we add information to non-electronic things (notebooks, agendas, etc.). A full page versus a blank page. But it is more than that with our phones or other electronic devices. Data, Information encoded as a series of 0’s and 1’s It is stored as .

Energy increases as information is encoded.

Let’s say we ignore the factor that your device’s battery is running low. When you add the 50 cat photos you just took in a row to your phone’s memory or later delete the ones you don’t like, you won’t add or subtract the numbers we just mentioned. You just change them. Well 1’s to 0’s, 0’s to 1’s you translate.

Groups of atoms with magnetic-like properties in memory are accelerated in one direction depending on whether they store a 1 or a 0, depending on how they are aligned. different amounts of energy they have. Memory works by either holding electrons in place or not. We can also say: They become more “energetic” while they are held in place, that is, while the electrons are encoding information. This is valid for every digital data.

Going back to Einstein “More energy, to more mass equal.” So technically, filling up your phone’s memory increases its mass. “So, are our phones really getting heavier?” If you say so, continue reading.

So, does the memory of phones affect the mass or not?

According to Weber’s Law, we can understand whether two objects have different weights if the difference is more than 5%. For example, an average of around 7 grams of data is required for us to feel a change in the weight of an iPhone.

The entire internet has almost 5 trillion TB of data, which is just over 1/200,000 of a gram. So to feel the difference in the weight of the phone, we would have to multiply the weight of the entire internet by more than a million times.

In short, although it is technically possible to increase the mass of the phone, it is too much to make a noticeable difference in mass. A lot of energy is needed. 200 GB of stored data is hundreds of millions of times lighter than a speck of dust. You can gently place your phones, which you will use as dumbbells, on the table.

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