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Long distances at one time were an obstacle for communications. But during the end of the 19th century, a man by the name of Nikola Tesla invented radio. Both radio and fiber optics have revolutionized long distance communications today. Each uses the basic theory of electromagnetic waves. Radio waves transmit speech, pictures, and data transparently through the air up to millions of miles. The three basic parts of the radio are the transmitter, the receiver, and the antennas. Radio operates off of varying sine wave frequencies. There are three common ways to modulate a sine wave, Pulse Modulation (PM), Amplitude Modulation (AM), and Frequency Modulation (FM). Fiber optic lines are very thin strands of pure glass that transmit digital information over long distances via light. A single optical fiber consists of three parts, the core, the cladding, and buffer coating. The core is the glass center of the fiber where the light travels. The cladding is the outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the back into the core. The buffer coating is the plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture. There are many advantages of fiber optics compared to copper wire; they (fiber optics) are less expensive, thinner, higher carrying capacity (bandwidth), less signal degradation, low power, digital signals, non-flammable, lightweight, and flexible. Fiber optics are now used to transmit data over the internet, telephone conversations, television transmissions, and medical probing.
Both radio and fiber optics relate to relativity. The speed of light in a vacuum is a constant, 3*10^8 m/s. Both radio and light waves are electromagnetic waves, each having a speed of 3*10^8 m/s. Over long distances there is a delay in communication. This can be experienced when calling someone in California from New York via traditional land lines. It is theoretically possible to transmit data faster than the speed of light by using a procedure called Quantum Tunneling. Quantum Tunneling is the quantum mechanical effect which allows a particle to escape through a barrier when the particle does not have enough energy to do so classically. A group of physicists have claimed to have transmitted Mozart’s 40th Symphony through a 11.4 cm barrier at 4.7 times the speed of light.