0.1 Seconds Under the Sea
Contents › Chapter 2 Into the Sea
Cutting the cable open
In the deep sea, the cable is actually thin — about as thick as a garden hose
View in 3DThinner in the deep sea
Out in the deep sea, the cable actually gets thinner: about 2 cm across, as thick as a garden hose. Cut it open and you find plastic on the outside, then copper and steel wires. In the very middle, a thin steel tube holds a few glass threads. The faint dotted circle shows how thick the cable is near the shore (about 5 cm).
Why?Thousands of meters down, no anchor or net can reach the bottom. With less to protect against, the cable is made light and thin, so a ship can carry a longer piece of it.
Learn moreThe copper carries electricity sent from land. It powers the repeaters on the sea floor (you will see them soon). The steel wires keep the cable from snapping while it is lowered into the deep sea.
- Time
- 7.4 ms
Simplified route · light in glass at about 200,000 km per second
View this scene in 3D →Read more
Wikipedia: Submarine communications cable
More in the series
Times are simplified values, calculated from a simplified route (Busan → south of Japan → Pacific → Oregon, about 9,200 km) and the speed of light in glass (about 200,000 km per second). Real times vary with the carrier, the route and traffic.