Beware: E-readers get heavier with each book

din155 · 10-31-2011, 06:53 AM

I couldn't stop laughing after reading this article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...each-book.html

Please save new books carefully in your e-readers to avoid hurting your wrist from the weight of those heavy books.
Can't believe these scientists have so much time and resources to waste on such a topic.

din

HomeInMyShoes · 10-31-2011, 07:17 AM

Hmmm...did they just compare books to viruses?

Apache · 10-31-2011, 07:19 AM

I thought my arms were getting bigger.

Apache

Serpentine · 10-31-2011, 07:21 AM

We should have listened!

Also - I'm sure the 30 seconds it takes to come up with the rough numbers came at a great cost to scientific progress. This is why I haven't got self-lacing shoes and hover-boards. Pretty upset about it really :/

I am the 1%~

fjtorres · 10-31-2011, 07:28 AM

California taxes at work.
Governor Moonbeam is pleased.
Next up: how many angels can breakdance on a molecule.

din155 · 10-31-2011, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpentine

We should have listened!

Also - I'm sure the 30 seconds it takes to come up with the rough numbers came at a great cost to scientific progress. This is why I haven't got self-lacing shoes and hover-boards. Pretty upset about it really :/

I am the 1%~

You have every right to be upset

But it makes me think...if I keep chucking e-books in my reader; it will gradually keep getting heavier. And if I will keep using the same reader for next 50 years, it will weigh tons and I will get used to carrying tons of weight on my arms. Once I have reached that stage, I will participate in the Olympics and become weightlifting champion. I guess human evolution just took the next leap. We will be able to carry tons of weight additional to the gravitational force and air column that we carry over our head from the birth.

That’s enough for Monday morning day-dreaming. It’s time to get back to work!

din

wayrad · 10-31-2011, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by din155

Can't believe these scientists have so much time and resources to waste on such a topic.

It's either a joke or he skipped the part in chemistry class about mass and energy only being interconverted in nuclear reactions.

HomeInMyShoes · 10-31-2011, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpentine

We should have listened!

Also - I'm sure the 30 seconds it takes to come up with the rough numbers came at a great cost to scientific progress. This is why I haven't got self-lacing shoes and hover-boards. Pretty upset about it really :/

I am the 1%~

Hover boards. We should have hover cars by now.

din155 · 10-31-2011, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Hover boards. We should have hover cars by now.

We should have had a settlement on Mars now… house on earth and work on Mars.

Andanzas · 10-31-2011, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by din155

We should have had a settlement on Mars now… house on earth and work on Mars.

Yeah, that would have solved the unemployment for sure.

J. Strnad · 10-31-2011, 11:58 AM

But he neglected to reduce the weight by the number of atoms that are worn off the device through constant handling and clicking of page turn buttons. This is why most people will not notice the weight increase as they add more ebooks. Well, that and "filling a 4GB Kindle to its storage limit would increase its weight by a billionth of a billionth of a gram, or 0.000000000000000001g."

I wouldn't worry about scientists wasting time on this kind of thing. It's something a computer scientist could do on a coffee break or instead of surfing the internet for a couple of minutes. It isn't like it took years of scientific study!

ilovejedd · 10-31-2011, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

I wouldn't worry about scientists wasting time on this kind of thing. It's something a computer scientist could do on a coffee break or instead of surfing the internet for a couple of minutes. It isn't like it took years of scientific study!

This is true. Frankly, doing the interview and writing the article probably took more time than the actual calculations.

1611mac · 10-31-2011, 02:17 PM

And surely the dust and grime that collects in nooks (pun) and crannies add more weight too! I'm getting concerned. I'll soon need a furniture mover to carry my eReader around with me.

Who are you? · 10-31-2011, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayrad

It's either a joke or he skipped the part in chemistry class about mass and energy only being interconverted in nuclear reactions.

Actually it's the opposite of what you claim. Mass and energy are always equivalent, and mass is never lost, not even in nuclear reactions (because the energy in the system remains the same the mass has to stay the same as well per E=mc²).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass–energy_equivalence

emellaich · 10-31-2011, 11:49 PM

OK, I know interpreting this seriously is out of line, but really!!!???

The assumption is that a stored book is at a higher energy state than no book. However, what is stored is a bunch of 1's and 0's. It may well be that either a 1 or a 0 is a higher energy state depending on hardware definitions. Let's pretend that a 1 is higher energy.

An empty reader wouldn't be full of 0's. It would have a random mixture of 1's and 0's. The empty part would refer to the fact that there would be no directory entry showing that the space is used. However the space itself would not be all 0's. Then, when you load a book it doesn't change everything to 1's. It is some mixture of 1's and 0's to code the book.

You can't reliably predict that a stored book versus an empty memory is higher or lower in energy.

10-31-2011, 06:53 AM	#1
din155 Guru Posts: 880 Karma: 7556602 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: UK Device: Kindle PW, Win 10 thinkpad 8in	Beware: E-readers get heavier with each book I couldn't stop laughing after reading this article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...each-book.html Please save new books carefully in your e-readers to avoid hurting your wrist from the weight of those heavy books. Can't believe these scientists have so much time and resources to waste on such a topic. din

10-31-2011, 07:21 AM	#4
Serpentine Evangelist Posts: 416 Karma: 1045911 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Device: Kindle 3	We should have listened! Also - I'm sure the 30 seconds it takes to come up with the rough numbers came at a great cost to scientific progress. This is why I haven't got self-lacing shoes and hover-boards. Pretty upset about it really :/ I am the 1%~ Last edited by Serpentine; 10-31-2011 at 07:25 AM.

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10-31-2011, 07:17 AM	#2
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	Hmmm...did they just compare books to viruses?

10-31-2011, 07:19 AM	#3
Apache Readaholic Posts: 5,269 Karma: 90000484 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Georgia Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"	I thought my arms were getting bigger. Apache

10-31-2011, 07:28 AM	#5
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	California taxes at work. Governor Moonbeam is pleased. Next up: how many angels can breakdance on a molecule.

10-31-2011, 11:58 AM	#11
J. Strnad Guru Posts: 915 Karma: 3537194 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo, Kindle 3, Paperwhite	But he neglected to reduce the weight by the number of atoms that are worn off the device through constant handling and clicking of page turn buttons. This is why most people will not notice the weight increase as they add more ebooks. Well, that and "filling a 4GB Kindle to its storage limit would increase its weight by a billionth of a billionth of a gram, or 0.000000000000000001g." I wouldn't worry about scientists wasting time on this kind of thing. It's something a computer scientist could do on a coffee break or instead of surfing the internet for a couple of minutes. It isn't like it took years of scientific study!

10-31-2011, 02:17 PM	#13
1611mac eWanderer Posts: 523 Karma: 1441998 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: iMac,iPad3,iPhone5-Kindle Fire,Touch,PaperWhite	And surely the dust and grime that collects in nooks (pun) and crannies add more weight too! I'm getting concerned. I'll soon need a furniture mover to carry my eReader around with me.

10-31-2011, 11:49 PM	#15
emellaich Wizard Posts: 1,101 Karma: 4388403 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Palm>Ebookman>IPaq>Axim>Cybook>Kndl2>IPAD>Kndl3SO>Voyager>Oasis	OK, I know interpreting this seriously is out of line, but really!!!??? The assumption is that a stored book is at a higher energy state than no book. However, what is stored is a bunch of 1's and 0's. It may well be that either a 1 or a 0 is a higher energy state depending on hardware definitions. Let's pretend that a 1 is higher energy. An empty reader wouldn't be full of 0's. It would have a random mixture of 1's and 0's. The empty part would refer to the fact that there would be no directory entry showing that the space is used. However the space itself would not be all 0's. Then, when you load a book it doesn't change everything to 1's. It is some mixture of 1's and 0's to code the book. You can't reliably predict that a stored book versus an empty memory is higher or lower in energy.

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