OPTICAL FIBERS
In our everyday lives, we are often to meet with something using optical fibers. For example, a pregnant mother could see the photograph of her baby that hasn’t been born yet and still lying inside its mother’s womb. The photograph was taken using solid thread of glass that could bend without breaking which we are used to call it as optical fibers. We are used to wonder how this could happen. We will explore more of it inside this essay.
If a strong light is shone in at one of the optical fiber, it will shine out at the other end, even if the fiber is kilometers long and twisted up like wire. Light travels along the length of the thread by bouncing from side to side. If we look closely at a single optical fiber, we will see it has a core (thin glass center of the fiber where the light travels), cladding (outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the light back into the core) and buffer coating (plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture). Some of optical fibers can be made from plastic too.
The method using optical fibers to carry images and messages is called fiber optics. The light in a fiber optic cable through the core by constantly bouncing from the cladding, a principle called total internal reflection. Because the cladding does not absorb any light from the core, the light wave can travel great distances.
Use of fiber optics in communications is growing. Radio, telephone, television and computer data are carried using optical fibers. Some cable television companies use optical fibers instead of wires to carry sound and picture signals. These signals are changed into pulses of light. Some telephone companies also use optical fibers. They are lighter, cheaper and easier to install than the normal copper cables.
For example, when we speak into a telephone, the sound made by our own voice is turned into electric signals which travel down the line. In a fiber optic system, these electric...