Physicists have attempted to answer the question: can the Internet have weight? Using various methods for estimating the mass of digital information — from the energy of servers to futuristic ideas of storing data in DNA — scientists have suggested that the weight of the Internet could range from a tiny fraction of a gram to heavier than a car.
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The Internet may seem intangible, but if data is stored and transmitted using energy, which Einstein believed has mass, then it could theoretically be weighed. While physical server farms and fiber optic cables certainly weigh something, the question is the mass of the information and data itself circulating in cyberspace. WIRED magazine explores how to calculate the weight of transmitted information, and whether it can be done at all.
In 2006, Harvard physicist Russell Seitz attempted to calculate this weight. He concluded that, given the mass of energy powering server racks around the world, the weight of the Internet was about 50 grams. While this figure hasn’t been much of a controversy until now, the advent of Instagram
, the iPhone, and artificial intelligence (AI) has made it clear that a different approach is now required.
The second method was pioneered by Discover magazine, which relied on the weight of the electrons needed to encode bits of information. Discover estimated that in 2006, Internet traffic was 40 petabytes, equivalent to a tiny fraction of a gram—about a drop of strawberry juice.
Both methods are questionable, however. Christopher White, president of NEC Laboratories America, believes Seitz’s calculations are flawed. He is partly supported by physicist Daniel Whiteson, who likens the method to trying to determine the price of a doughnut by dividing the world’s GDP by the total number of doughnuts.
The Discover method is also not perfect, as it describes data transfer rather than data storage, and assumes a fixed number of electrons per bit of information, although in reality this figure depends on specific chips and circuits.
White proposed a third approach: imagine all the internet’s data stored in one place and calculate how much energy it would take to encode it. In 2018, experts estimated the amount of data at 175 zettabytes (1.65 × 10²⁴ bits). Using the formula for the minimum energy of representing one bit and Einstein’s equation E = mc², scientists calculated the weight of the internet at 53 quadrillionths of a gram.
This result would seem disappointing, because in everyday life the Internet feels much more “heavy.” White generally notes that the network is so complex that it is impossible to measure it with absolute precision. However, scientists continue to look for new approaches — for example, they are considering the possibility of storing data in DNA molecules.
If the internet were truly encoded in DNA, it would weigh just over 960 kilograms—that’s the equivalent of ten adult men, a third of a Cybertruck, or 64,000 strawberries. This method of storing information is still hypothetical, but it could become a reality in the future.