The entire internet weighs about as much as a large strawberry
Some trivia is so bizarre it forces you to rethink your entire understanding of the world. Check out the fact below, see how others reacted, and scroll down to dive into the verified science and history behind it.
Information on the internet is stored as bits — electrical states of transistors. According to calculations by physicist Russell Seitz, the mass-energy equivalence of all the electrons actively representing data across the global internet amounts to approximately 50 grams — the weight of a large strawberry. This is because electrons have almost no mass. The internet traffic at any given moment represents a tiny fraction of total stored data, and even that tiny fraction converts to almost no physical mass when measured in grams.
The internet feels vast, influential, and all-pervasive — containing essentially all of human knowledge. Discovering that the physical mass of all that information is negligible makes the relationship between information and matter feel philosophically unresolved.
The Science Behind It
Information on the internet is stored as bits — electrical states of transistors. According to calculations by physicist Russell Seitz, the mass-energy equivalence of all the electrons actively representing data across the global internet amounts to approximately 50 grams — the weight of a large strawberry. This is because electrons have almost no mass. The internet traffic at any given moment represents a tiny fraction of total stored data, and even that tiny fraction converts to almost no physical mass when measured in grams.
Why Your Brain Finds This Hard to Believe
Sources & Verification
OddlyHuman Editors
VerifiedWritten and fact-checked by the OddlyHuman Behavioral Science Team. We verify all psychological, sociological, and historical claims against peer-reviewed journals, primary sources, and established encyclopedias to bring you accurate insights.
Read our Editorial Guidelines →“The entire internet — all its stored data and active traffic — weighs approximately 50 grams. The same as a large strawberry. All of human knowledge, barely detectable on a scale. 🍓💻 #OddlyHuman”