Why Does a USB Drive Get Lighter as It Fills?
Typically containers get heavier as you add to their contents. One notable exception to this is a USB memory flash drive.
USB drives store data in binary form, using ones and zeroes on transistors. When you save data, a binary zero is set by charging the float gate of the transistor, and a binary one is set by removing the charge.
For each charge, electrons are added, tacking on 0.00000000000000000000000000091 grams per electron.
An empty USB drive holds mostly zeros. This means that an empty drive weighs more than a full USB drive.
Don’t worry about pulling a muscle by having to carry a full USB drive, though. It would take more USB drives than currently exist before the difference in weight would be noticeable.
You may also enjoy…
Harald Bluetooth: The Intriguing Story of How a 10th-Century Viking King Is Responsible for Technology You Use Today
Bluetooth technology originated from efforts in the late 1980s by Nils Rydbeck and his team at Ericsson to develop wireless headsets. Named after 10th-century Viking king Harald Bluetooth Gormsson, it symbolizes the unification of devices. The name stuck due to its popularity, leaving a lasting legacy of innovation in connectivity.
From Corporate Scandal to Chatbot Charm: How the Enron Email Corpus Taught Computers to Talk Back
Discover how the Enron Email Corpus, a trove of corporate emails from a historic scandal, became a cornerstone for AI development, spam filters, and modern tech innovation.
Toy Story 2: How One Line of Computer Code Nearly Killed the Pixar Hit Movie
Did you know a single mistake almost erased Toy Story 2 forever? Discover the incredible true story behind Pixar’s $100M recovery.
Leave a Reply