Signal Delay- Math anyone?

[Hactar]

What's interesting is that the electrons in the cable don't travel at the speed of light, but the signal does. It's like turning on a faucet with a hose attached. The pressure at the far end increases almost instantaneously, but the water travels through the hose at a few feet per second.

Relevant?:
Invalid Link Removed
Speed of electricity flow (speed of current.)

 

[Jazz Ad]

What's interesting is that the electrons in the cable don't travel at the speed of light, but the signal does. It's like turning on a faucet with a hose attached. The pressure at the far end increases almost instantaneously, but the water travels through the hose at a few feet per second.

Actually, they don't travel at all since we're dealing with analogic signals. Electrons are vibrating, not unlike a speaker cone.

 

[lowfreq33]

Just as a matter of trivia, sound travels 4 times as fast through water as it does through air.

 

[jelwood]

If you have any digital processing anywhere in your signal you'll have a lag. How much of a lag you get you'd have to use instruments to measure. You can think about it this way: your computer is digital. Does it open web pages at the speed of light? Ahhh if only. Also, if you play video games you can notice a slight lag on modern digital TVs if you're playing a game that requires fast reflexes and precision. Drives me nuts, I stick to the old big tube TVs

 

[Munjibunga]

Actually, they don't travel at all since we're dealing with analogic signals. Electrons are vibrating, not unlike a speaker cone.

True. But they do move in DC.

 

[ggunn]

Relevant?:
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Speed of electricity flow (speed of current.)

It's relevant because a signal in a wire is much like a pressure wave in a water filled hose. The pressure wave travels much faster (essentially at the speed of sound in water) than does the water itself just as an electrical signal travels much faster (essentially at the speed of light) than do the electrons in the metal of the wire.

 

[seamonkey]

And BTW - digital snakes only add micro-seconds of latency. Not enough for any sound engineer to care about. Not much more than moving a speaker a few MM.