Author: Tom Likens
Date: 13:41:17 06/07/02
Go up one level in this thread
Actually, as the wire gets thinner the resistance goes up not down. regards, --tom On June 06, 2002 at 18:02:24, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On June 06, 2002 at 17:38:07, Russell Reagan wrote: > >>What I would like to know is if there is a theoretical limit to the speed >>processors can reach. >> >>I'm not sure if this is related or not, but I'll throw this out there also. I >>recall long ago hearing or reading about how the electrons passing through a >>wire (or whatever medium) bang into each other and thus cause the travel time >>from one end of a wire to the other end to take longer, and also causing heat to >>be generated from the collisions. It went on to talk about how the smaller the >>wire gets, the fewer the number of collisions, the faster the travel time, and >>less heat is generated. So is the theoretical limit to processor speed when we >>are able to create a wire (or whatever medium) that has the width of a single >>electron, and can thus move freely with no collisions? Sorry if this has nothing >>to do with my original question. >> >>I'm not talking so much about other approaches to computing such as quantum >>computing. I'm speaking in terms of our current architecture. >> >>Russell > > >This is a lot of physical nonsense. IE an electron is not a "particle" and so >it has no "width". > >There are problems with electron movement down a wire, as any good E&M course >will explain. When an electron moves, it propogates a magnetic field. And >while that field builds up, it hinders the electron's movement. No way to >control that. > >There are other issues related to resistance, capacitance and inductance that >influence electron movement as well. All cause problems (heat, delay, loss of >signal strength). > >That is one reason for the great interest in optical circuitry where the >problems are different.
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