How Data TravelsData Communication

The Packet Puzzle

Your message is chopped up and rebuilt at the other end

A 3 MB photo crosses the internet as about 2,000 pieces, free to take different roads. How does it arrive in one piece?

You'll find out

  • Why your photo gets chopped up
  • What one lost piece really costs
  • What the internet's ancestor said first

Why it matters

Every photo, message and video call you send online travels this way, and it's why the internet survives broken links.

About 3 min6 interactive slides · 5 questionsLesson 37 · Zone 5

Play this lesson

Free to play in your browser or on iPhone

More in this zone

  1. 38Digital ImagingRolling ShutterWhy your phone bends propellers into banana shapes
  2. 39AlgorithmsGuess My Number in 7 TriesBinary search halves the possibilities to find your number fast
  3. 40Civil EngineeringWhy Concrete Needs SteelConcrete is strong under squeezing and weak under stretching
  4. 41ProbabilitySpot the Fake Coin FlipsPeople faking random flips almost never write long streaks
  5. 42Error DetectionYour Card's Last Digit Is a Lie DetectorThe final digit of a card number checks all the others
  6. 43Computing HistoryThe 1890 Census Ran on Punch CardsHoles in cardboard counted a nation, and IBM grew from it
  7. 44Quantum MechanicsThe Double-Slit SurpriseSingle particles build a pattern only waves should make
  8. 45Machine LearningNearest NeighborA new item can be classified by the examples most like it