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Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
leighelse@mastodon.nz ("leighelse{}") wrote:
The 1858 cable from Ireland to Newfoundland was laid dramatically and failed dramatically.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-first-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-was-a-bold-beautiful-failure
'... British physicist Michael Faraday believed that the conducting wire of a submarine cable should be as narrow as possible, to limit retardation of the signal. And the wider the wire, the more electricity would be needed to charge it. Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse, an electrician for the Atlantic Telegraph Company, subscribed to this view.
The other school of thought was represented by William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). He argued that the amount of retardation was inversely proportional to the square of the cable’s length. Thomson suggested using a large-diameter core made with the purest copper available in order to reduce the resistance.'
