Light and CPUs

[InseName]

hey, light's frequency is around 9GHZ, so heres a question, what will happen if a CPU were to exceed that frequency?

 

[zakee00]

wrong category man, try highly technenical. i cant even spell it.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: InseName
hey, light's frequency is around 9GHZ, so heres a question, what will happen if a CPU were to exceed that frequency?

cpu's will come with a warp field generator,this way it will be able to go faster than the speed of light.

 

[deveraux]

It can't get past it then. I've never really tried calculating the frequency of light. Anyway, the only way around that I know of currently, is using quantum computers since current experiments suggests that "entangled" quantums communicated instanteneously (i.e. faster than speed of light). I could be wrong though and yes, wrong forum!

 

[InseName]

sorry bout that then, but i didn't consider this highly technical

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: deveraux
It can't get past it then. I've never really tried calculating the frequency of light. Anyway, the only way around that I know of currently, is using quantum computers since current experiments suggests that "entangled" quantums communicated instanteneously (i.e. faster than speed of light). I could be wrong though and yes, wrong forum!

light has different frequencies....but it all travels at the same speed.

ie red light has a lower frequency therefore larger wave length than blue light, yet they will both travel at the same speed

3x10^8 m/s

nothing can go faster than this since it would take an ifinite amount of energy to do so

can you tell me how u worked out that light had a frequency of 9ghz?

 

[InseName]

of course i didn't calculate or something, it was provided to me by a book, and 9ghz was rounded, it was higher by a little
by nothing can travel faster, u mean matter right? since no matter will actually travel at that speed, does it still take infinate energy to produce a 9ghz frequency?

 

[otispunkmeyer]

yeah thats matter. E= MC^2 is all it is, as you approach the speed of light, you get infinitely heavy and there for need infinite energy to continue,
there is already research into quantum computers.....they use light, and light logic gates, obviously very primitve but very fast. i read new scientist its a damn good read every month

im still skeptical about this light having a frequency of 9Ghz.

i mean visable light has a wavelength of 400 - 700 nanometers

so using v= f (lamda) <--- cant find symbol

f = v/lamda

v = 3x10^8
lamda = wavelength = 400x10^-9 m

using that u get that light with a wavelength of 400 nanometers....ultra violet..... has a frequency of 7.5x10^14Hz

using 600 which is red light

u get a frequency of 5x10^14 Hz

both of these are way above Ghz which is 10^9 so i cant see how light can be used in the context your talking.

gamma rays (still light) get as small as 0.003 nanometers in wavelength. so using the formula again id get a simply insane frequency of 1x10^20 hz

100000000000000000000Hz = gamma ray
9000000000Hz = your 9Ghz

so your 9Ghz for light is rather paltry even comaperd to visable light, 9Ghz light has a wavelengt of about 0.03 meters....thats gettin into radio wave territory.

basically the light emitted from your monitor has a higher frequency than you are suggesting

 

[otispunkmeyer]

basically different light has diferent frequencies....frequency isnt speed (in terms of talkin about light) its how many cycles ie how many complete waves per second.

all light travels at 3x10^8 this cant be turned into a frequency as light with diff wavelengths have diff frequencies

 

[deveraux]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
basically different light has diferent frequencies....frequency isnt speed (in terms of talkin about light) its how many cycles ie how many complete waves per second.

all light travels at 3x10^8 this cant be turned into a frequency as light with diff wavelengths have diff frequencies

Actually, I think you've missed the point. IMO, the frequency you're talking about is to do with the lightwave itself vibrating whereas I think the OP is talking more about the distance traversed by light which has nothing to do with its wavelength because like you said, all light travels ~3x10^8 m/s.

I'm really not sure where the OP plucked 9GHz from since I have absolutely no idea how that could even be calculated (speed of light has absolutely no relation to transistor switching). The only thing that I can think of that has even a remote relation to the speed of light is that of the speed of propagation of an electric field.

Electric, electromagnetic and gravitational fields all propagate at the speed of light and hence that is the only relation I can think of with respect to this topic. However, transistors don't switch at this speed, they only get the signal to switch at this speed and then switching still occurs by mechanical means (electrons moving to change the depletion region within a semiconductor).

This topic is way to theoretical and we probably need an expert in this field to be able to really make any concrete comments on this subject.

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
there is already research into quantum computers.....they use light, and light logic gates, obviously very primitve but very fast. i read new scientist its a damn good read every month

Are you sure you read that from new scientist? From what I know of quantum computers (my university tutor does heavy research into this topic), quantum computers work by assessing each atom's quantum state and uses that to perform computations. I spoke to him about this a good three years ago, therefore what I'm saying now could very well be outdated as I haven't really kept up-to-date on this.

 

[frootbooter]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
yeah thats matter. E= MC^2 is all it is, as you approach the speed of light, you get infinitely heavy and there for need infinite energy to continue

Actually, it's E=MC^2/(sqrt(1-(v^2/c^2)), and that square root in the bottom is why it takes infinite energy to go the speed of light... as v approaches c, you end up with e=mc^2/sqrt(0), which boils down to e=infinity...

But whatever, we knew what you meant

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: deveraux

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
basically different light has diferent frequencies....frequency isnt speed (in terms of talkin about light) its how many cycles ie how many complete waves per second.

all light travels at 3x10^8 this cant be turned into a frequency as light with diff wavelengths have diff frequencies

Actually, I think you've missed the point. IMO, the frequency you're talking about is to do with the lightwave itself vibrating whereas I think the OP is talking more about the distance traversed by light which has nothing to do with its wavelength because like you said, all light travels ~3x10^8 m/s.

I'm really not sure where the OP plucked 9GHz from since I have absolutely no idea how that could even be calculated (speed of light has absolutely no relation to transistor switching). The only thing that I can think of that has even a remote relation to the speed of light is that of the speed of propagation of an electric field.

Electric, electromagnetic and gravitational fields all propagate at the speed of light and hence that is the only relation I can think of with respect to this topic. However, transistors don't switch at this speed, they only get the signal to switch at this speed and then switching still occurs by mechanical means (electrons moving to change the depletion region within a semiconductor).

This topic is way to theoretical and we probably need an expert in this field to be able to really make any concrete comments on this subject.

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
there is already research into quantum computers.....they use light, and light logic gates, obviously very primitve but very fast. i read new scientist its a damn good read every month

Are you sure you read that from new scientist? From what I know of quantum computers (my university tutor does heavy research into this topic), quantum computers work by assessing each atom's quantum state and uses that to perform computations. I spoke to him about this a good three years ago, therefore what I'm saying now could very well be outdated as I haven't really kept up-to-date on this.

 

[mwmorph]

also, there was a report and pics on the news (NBC4) about a 35ghz processer made by intel. it was a circular wafer the diameter of your forearm.

 

[AnandThenMan]

9 ghz is NOT the frequency of light! Not even close. Radio waves have a length of about 1 mm, visible light is about 500 nanometers. (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter) So if an FM radio station has a frequency of say 100 mhz, visible light will have a wave length of at least 500,000 times smaller. Feel free to correct my math I just did it in my head, but I am certain that the frequency of light is far beyond the Ghz range.

 

[VStrom]

I think it would simply take an inverse tachyon pulse into the flux capacitor to make all things possible.

 

[JediJeb]

Frequency of light would not even enter into the question of how high a frequency a processor could have. What would limit this would be the distance an electronic pulse has to travel through the system. As the pulse can only travel at the speed of light then the shorter the path the faster the frequency that pulse can cycled. Theoretically if you reduce the path the pulses travel through the system in half then you can double the frequency.

If the total path through the system is 1 meter and the speed of light is 3x10^8m/s then the theoretical max speed of that system would be 3x10^8 Hz which I believe would be 30MHz. Obviously the path pulses travel through a system are much shorter than that A 1cm total path would yield 3 GHz max , 1mm 30GHz max and so forth. So the smaller the system can be the faster it can run.

Then consider that processors now do more than one operation per cycle, that further multiplies the max. So anyone out there know how to figure out just how fast one can go from this, since I don't really know what the internal distances are in a processor.

 

[slash196]

Frequency is not speed. Frequency changes as the color of light changes. Frequency determines color.

 

[Jeffyboy]

so... maybe the speed of light isn't 300000km/s... since the particles behave like a wavicle... kind of like a sinewave motion... doesn't the actual particle (because it's not following a straight path) go a further distance that what we really measure? ;-)

Jeff

 

[otispunkmeyer]

originally posted by: deveraux
Are you sure you read that from new scientist? From what I know of quantum computers (my university tutor does heavy research into this topic), quantum computers work by assessing each atom's quantum state and uses that to perform computations. I spoke to him about this a good three years ago, therefore what I'm saying now could very well be outdated as I haven't really kept up-to-date on this.

your probably right, i only read it once very briefly, i guess i got my ideas mixed up, your lecturer will be right, thanks for the correction :thumbsup:

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: frootbooter

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
yeah thats matter. E= MC^2 is all it is, as you approach the speed of light, you get infinitely heavy and there for need infinite energy to continue

Actually, it's E=MC^2/(sqrt(1-(v^2/c^2)), and that square root in the bottom is why it takes infinite energy to go the speed of light... as v approaches c, you end up with e=mc^2/sqrt(0), which boils down to e=infinity...

But whatever, we knew what you meant

yeah i know, i didnt wanna make it too complicated, not everyone knows about these things. but at least alot of people have just heard of the E=MC^2 bit

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: VStrom
I think it would simply take an inverse tachyon pulse into the flux capacitor to make all things possible.

LMAO!

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Jeffyboy
so... maybe the speed of light isn't 300000km/s... since the particles behave like a wavicle... kind of like a sinewave motion... doesn't the actual particle (because it's not following a straight path) go a further distance that what we really measure? ;-)

Jeff

i think bringin in light as waves and as particles (photons) is probably necessary but, its gonna confuse the bejesus out of a lot of people.

but i thought the whole photon thing was light behaving like a particle, not light actually being a particle.


i think deveraux and jedijeb are on the right path, what hey have said makes the most sense to me.

frequency has nout to do with the speed, alot of people have said that, but i think what jedi was saying about light pusles in a circuit is a good idea, and how the shorter the system the faster it will go.

 

[deveraux]

Originally posted by: JediJeb
Frequency of light would not even enter into the question of how high a frequency a processor could have. What would limit this would be the distance an electronic pulse has to travel through the system. As the pulse can only travel at the speed of light then the shorter the path the faster the frequency that pulse can cycled. Theoretically if you reduce the path the pulses travel through the system in half then you can double the frequency.

If the total path through the system is 1 meter and the speed of light is 3x10^8m/s then the theoretical max speed of that system would be 3x10^8 Hz which I believe would be 30MHz. Obviously the path pulses travel through a system are much shorter than that A 1cm total path would yield 3 GHz max , 1mm 30GHz max and so forth. So the smaller the system can be the faster it can run.

Then consider that processors now do more than one operation per cycle, that further multiplies the max. So anyone out there know how to figure out just how fast one can go from this, since I don't really know what the internal distances are in a processor.

It doesn't matter what the internal distances are since that's not how the frequency of a processor is determined. The frequency is determined by the speed that the transistors can switch and nothing else. Every time they increase the switching speed, we get an increase of frequency and the switching speed is usually limited by the capacitance of the internal wiring. (Hence why a decrease in size usually enables higher frequencies)

 

[imported_tss4]

Actually, both of you are right to a point. Both switching speed and internal propogation delays can limit the speed of a processor and thus its max frequency. However, what's interesting is that the ceiling on processor speed is now due more to a third problem. Heat dissipation. Theremal management in processors is now the biggest limitation to processor speed.

Now as far as the original post. Your 9 GHz is way off, as one of the other posters pointed out frequency of light is a simple calculation (speed of light in medium or vacuum / wavelength) which comes out to order of about 10^14. Perhaps they were refering to bandwidth of a type of optical fiber? Some fiber types have bandwidth distance products closer to that range and you could possibly confuse the two.

Now this does actually impose some interesting possibilities for speeding up computers for several reasons. One is that there would be no electromagnetic interference, so noise on increasingly dense circuits becomes less of a problem. Thermal dissipation is reduced. and lastly it is believed that we can make switches that operate faster than current electrical switches. Also , the bandwidth of light is far greater than electrical signals therefore the input and output to the processor could be faster.

 

[JediJeb]

Originally posted by: tss4
Actually, both of you are right to a point. Both switching speed and internal propogation delays can limit the speed of a processor and thus its max frequency. However, what's interesting is that the ceiling on processor speed is now due more to a third problem. Heat dissipation. Theremal management in processors is now the biggest limitation to processor speed.

Now as far as the original post. Your 9 GHz is way off, as one of the other posters pointed out frequency of light is a simple calculation (speed of light in medium or vacuum / wavelength) which comes out to order of about 10^14. Perhaps they were refering to bandwidth of a type of optical fiber? Some fiber types have bandwidth distance products closer to that range and you could possibly confuse the two.

Now this does actually impose some interesting possibilities for speeding up computers for several reasons. One is that there would be no electromagnetic interference, so noise on increasingly dense circuits becomes less of a problem. Thermal dissipation is reduced. and lastly it is believed that we can make switches that operate faster than current electrical switches. Also , the bandwidth of light is far greater than electrical signals therefore the input and output to the processor could be faster.

Thats actually what I was thinking of, how far the pulse has to travel to trigger the switch, can't open or close faster than the signal can get there.

Yes right now the thermal problem is the BIG issue. Unless you submerge the boards in liquid nitrogen you are going to have trouble with overheating as you get faster.