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No delay when using a telephone?

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MunkeyBoy | 11:49 Wed 05th Oct 2005 | How it Works
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I'm confused (It doesn't take much!). If I was to call Japan now using my telephone why is there no delay when we speak?


Concorde could travel the speed of sound right? Say about 900 mph (I'm roughly guessing). So therefore why does my voice not travel at that speed causing a delay when I speak to someone in Japan?


Hope that all makes sense, please help it's hurting my head thinking about it.

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the telephone network doesn't transmit sound, it transmits electric signals, which travel much faster.
It converts sound to electric signal at one end,
then transmits the electric signal,
then converts it back to sound at the other end.
...at about 186,000 miles per second...
.....which explains the short delay audible when your conversation is going via a satellite link.  If it's a geostationary satellite, its 20-odd thousand miles up, so the total path from the UK to satellite to Japan is probably 50 or 60 thousand miles; equivalent to 1/3 of a second which correlates with observation.

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