# Is a memory or storage cell with a 1 bit heavier than one with 0?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-memory-or-storage-cell-with-a-1-bit-heavier-than-one-with-0/977420>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 31, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-memory-or-storage-cell-with-a-1-bit-heavier-than-one-with-0/977420 "2022-12-31T17:11:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-memory-or-storage-cell-with-a-1-bit-heavier-than-one-with-0/977420/1 "2022-12-31T17:11:25Z")

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I know, the question sounds very stupid when you first read it. But my thinking is this: As I understand it, most (all?) memory or storage technologies use cells that can have two distinct levels of energy. The energetically higher one (a charged capacitor in RAM; magnetisation in a hard drive or floppy disk; a charged oxide in flash memory) corresponds to a 1, its opposite to a 0. In line with E = mc², that would mean that the cell with a 1 in it would have to have a greater total mass, right? Very, very slightly, but still. Or perhaps the effect isn’t even so slight at the tiny molecular levels modern memory technology operates at?

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-memory-or-storage-cell-with-a-1-bit-heavier-than-one-with-0/977420/2 "2022-12-31T18:09:02Z")

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This was discussed in the thread linked below.

> [@Computer science professor claims e-books get heavier with each book stored.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-science-professor-claims-e-books-get-heavier-with-each-book-stored/601342/):
>
> Okay; admittedly this guy has a PhD in Computer Science while I merely have a Bachelors in CS, but I’m sorry, this does not sound right to me. Does the solid state memory in my Kindle really require a charge to maintain it’s state? It doesn’t use non-volatile memory? If the battery goes completely dead do I have to download all of my books again? Even if an e-book doesn’t use non-volatile memory, and even if it uses dynamic ram, isn’t the charge of a given bit maintained whether or not the …

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-memory-or-storage-cell-with-a-1-bit-heavier-than-one-with-0/977420/3 "2022-12-31T19:23:46Z")

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Some memory devices do use energy levels, and yes, in such a case, one of them will be ever-so-slightly more massive than the other (though so small you’d never be able to detect it). But I don’t think it’s a given that the 1 is always higher energy than the 0, and there are ways to store a bit that have the same energy for both.