The Collision Problem That Crippled Ethernet (And How We Solved It)

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Ever wonder how computers actually talk to each other over a wire? In this episode of ScienceLive, we break it all down — starting with the earliest Ethernet networks running over coaxial cable, through the switch to Cat5 cabling, and into the fundamental building block of all network communication: the packet.

You’ll learn what packets are, how they carry your data across a network, and why early Ethernet had a serious flaw — data collisions that could bring an entire network to its knees. We explain why collisions happen and what they mean for the data you’re trying to send.

Then comes the part we’re most excited about: how my team and I discovered a solution to stop packet collisions entirely, leading to the invention of WideBand networking. In this episode we give you the teaser — next week, we’ll teach you exactly how it works.

This lesson is for anyone who wants to truly understand computer networking from the ground up — how Ethernet came about, how it works, and where it’s headed.

About DrB

Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as ā€œDrBā€ to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology. As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to ā€œgive backā€ by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.


Read more about DrB » 
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program Ā»

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2,966 Comments

  1. Gwendolyn

    This is so cool!

    Reply
  2. Logan

    Good science live tonight.

    Reply
  3. Joseph

    Hello from NY!

    Reply
  4. Blake

    Hello from Massachusetts!

    Reply
  5. Khloe

    Why does gigabit Ethernet make video streaming faster than regular Ethernet?

    Reply
  6. Briella

    This was great!!

    Reply
  7. Isidore

    Networking technology is very interesting.

    Reply
  8. Vanessa

    this is super fun

    Reply
  9. David

    I love scene live and I love inventing

    Reply
  10. Brayden

    I love Sciencelive

    Reply
  11. Ashton

    Science Live Is Fun.l

    Reply
  12. Hannah

    Hi from Texas!!

    Reply
  13. Issac

    issac from MD

    Reply
  14. Naylynn

    The Ethernet is very interesting, and I would have never known about it if it was not covered here.

    Reply
  15. Jacob

    Awesome episode!

    Reply
  16. Itai

    Love it

    Reply
  17. Athena

    When were cables first invented?

    Reply
  18. Zoey

    I think its really cool that you brought up Coax cable because I am a licensed Amateur Radio operator and we tend to use coaxial cable to connect an antenna to a base station. I also hope R-51 comes back soon, he’s definitely the life of the party on science live!

    Reply
  19. Rylee

    Love these videos

    Reply
  20. Christopher

    Hi from Chicago

    Reply
  21. Wesley

    hi from Connecticut

    Reply
  22. Huzaifah

    LOVE THIS VIDEO ..

    VERY INFORMATIVE

    Reply
  23. Ashtin

    Very interesting

    Reply
  24. Penelope

    Hi from South Carolina! !

    Reply
  25. Emily

    so fun !

    Reply
  26. Calvin

    I didn’t realize collisions could be avoided with ethernet. :o)

    Reply
  27. Emma

    I learned a lot from this science live.

    Reply
  28. Brennan

    love the baseball part

    Reply
  29. Kyla

    SAYING GOOD EVENING FROM OREGON

    Reply
  30. Nyia

    hello from VA! Do you think there are more things that can be done with the already existing ethernet technology?

    Reply
  31. Noah

    Wow! Ethernet sounds really cool!

    Reply
  32. Bailie

    i have ethernet!

    Reply
  33. Penelope

    Hi from South Carolina!!

    Reply
  34. Justin

    Wow that’s both really cool and crazy how it was once believed that streaming a video wasn’t even possible.

    Reply
  35. Breanna

    I love science live

    Reply
  36. Logan

    Awesome Science Live

    Reply
  37. Harlan

    Hi From Kentucky

    Reply
  38. Andrew

    Great episode tonight! Watching from Florida!

    Reply
  39. Siva

    hi from va

    Reply
  40. Aaron

    hello this is Aaron from Arkansas!! I learned so much from this first science live! My whole family watched it with me!!

    Reply
    • Sciencelive

      Happy Wednesday Aaron and family!! So glad to have you all here!

      Reply
  41. Elijah

    I learned about Ron Crane.

    Reply
  42. Mossaab

    So glad to this episode.

    Reply
  43. Savannah

    Hey this is Savannah from Texas and i love acellus

    Reply
  44. Evelyn

    Ethernet is so cool.

    Reply
  45. Savannah

    Hi from Arkansas!

    Reply
  46. Gillian

    Again, best of luck to everyone in the science fair!

    Reply
    • Sciencelive

      So excited to see all of our entries! Tune in at Acellus World to see our winners!!

      Reply
  47. Dahlia

    Tennessee here! absolutely love acellus!

    Reply
  48. Paila

    I’m so excited to learn!!!

    Reply
  49. Saarah

    Hi from NY, this is such a cool concept!

    Reply
  50. Lilly

    Awesome video today. I loved it so much!!!!šŸ¦‹šŸ¦‹šŸ¦‹šŸ¦‹šŸ¦‹šŸ¦‹šŸ’œšŸ’™ā¤ā¤šŸ’œšŸ’–šŸ’—šŸ’˜šŸ’›šŸ’ššŸ’“šŸ˜šŸ¤šŸ§”šŸ–¤šŸ˜»šŸ’žšŸ’•ā™„

    Reply
    • Sciencelive

      Thanks for tuning in Lilly!! šŸ”¬šŸ’™

      Reply
  51. Romina

    Hello from Florida!

    Reply
  52. Aaliyah

    Hi From Texas. Love Science Live!

    Reply
  53. Eman

    Hi from sc

    Reply
  54. Miguel

    Hi from Maryland and happy Wednesday everyone!

    Reply
  55. Lyla

    Hello from Florida!

    Reply
  56. Hazel

    happy science live day!

    Reply
  57. William

    I have ethernet myself and it makes my wifi way faster.

    Reply
  58. Joey

    hey from texas

    Reply
  59. Skyler

    would you solve it the same way if it happened again?

    Reply
  60. Cooper

    I learn so much from this videos

    Reply
  61. Lainey

    love this!

    Reply
  62. Brantley

    Does fiber optic cable suffer from the same data collision issues as ethernet or coaxial cable?

    Reply
  63. Cooper

    Good evening from FL!

    Reply
  64. Noa

    Oh i’ve seen wires like that in my house and my grandpa was a engineer.

    Reply
  65. Regan

    excited to learn something in science live today

    Reply
  66. Adria

    hi from Ecuador!!

    Reply
  67. Olivia

    How can 1 billion bits per second work?!🤯

    Reply
  68. Max

    Hope everyone had a great holiday! Loved learning about Ethernet and how how it helps our technology.

    Reply
  69. Paz

    Science live is always so cool!

    Reply
  70. Charlie

    hello from omaha nebraska

    Reply
  71. Karlee

    love the videos!

    Reply
  72. Addison

    Do you think there is room for improvement for the ethernet?

    Reply
  73. Jade

    i like how they brought people who worked on ethernet i think that’s cool

    Reply
  74. Penelope

    This was very interesting! Thank you!

    Reply
  75. Enoch

    hello from texas

    Reply
  76. Ava

    hi from MN

    Reply
  77. Eli

    I never knew that’s how they did it

    Reply
  78. Axton

    Ethernet having 100 computers at the start to where we are now is bananas!

    Reply
  79. Alden

    hi from florda i love lives

    Reply
  80. Tucker

    I love you so much!

    Reply
  81. Diego

    Hii from Panama

    Reply
    • Sciencelive

      Hello Diego! Welcome, we are so happy to have you with us! šŸ”¬

      Reply
  82. Mark

    Awesome!

    Reply
  83. Genevieve

    This is so cool, though! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Ethernet before this! :0

    Reply
  84. Eliana

    Ethernet had lots of accidents before they fixed them and that’s cool. Area-51 was funny of course.

    Reply
    • Sciencelive

      R-51 always has something in store for us šŸ˜‰

      Reply
  85. Sunnove

    I always love the personification of computers talking to each other!

    Reply
  86. Brealea

    This was so interesting I loved it

    Reply
  87. Benjamin

    As a kid using pc, ethernet is really important science live is so fun!

    Reply
  88. Madison

    How could he ever build something like that from scrach? Its amazing!!

    Reply
  89. Blake

    hi from colrado

    Reply
  90. Charli

    Hey from nc! great live tonight!

    Reply
  91. Ben

    Hello from Texas!

    Reply
  92. Lily

    Hello from Indiana

    Reply
  93. Dean

    This is so cool. I love science live. Quick question, where is Cody from the inventineers club I have’nt seen him in a while.

    Reply
    • Sciencelive

      Hello Dean, thank you for watching! The Inventioneers & ProtĆ©gĆ©s will be back next week with more shenanigans šŸ˜‰

      Reply
  94. Deepak

    I love science live

    Reply
  95. Sophia

    Great show!

    Reply
  96. Connor

    goooood job prodojs

    Reply
  97. Samuel

    love this live!!

    Reply
  98. Insha

    Hi from NC!!!

    Reply
  99. Justice

    this is fun

    Reply
  100. Gavin

    think this might be one of my fovorite

    Reply
  101. Ryder

    Hi from NC

    Reply
  102. Delaney

    Great science live!

    Reply
  103. Kekoa

    i like the video because it is cool

    Reply
  104. Jahkaveon

    Hi from St Louis

    Reply
  105. Sophia

    Hello from Montana! Great live!!

    Reply
  106. Declan

    So interesting to learn more about computer networks!

    Reply
  107. Rory

    Technology can be really amazing!!

    Reply
  108. Bentley

    Thank you for another amazing science live.

    Reply
  109. Eli

    Saying hi from Louisiana!

    Reply
  110. Viviana

    I enjoyed this live.

    Reply
  111. Ian

    Hi From New York

    Reply
  112. Kelen

    I’m glad that they figured out how to get computers to talk to each other.

    Reply
  113. Kellis

    Hi from NC!

    Reply
  114. Riley

    Ethernet is a really great thing

    Reply
  115. Prestyn

    Hi, i’m excited for todays episode!!

    Reply
  116. Zayda

    It’s incredible how Ron Crane got into M.I.T College and Stanford University! It’s also very interesting how he joined the Xerox company in 1974!

    Reply
  117. Rozalia

    the board was really intresting to me. thank you!

    Reply
  118. Lillie

    i love science

    Reply
  119. Ashlyn

    I love science live!

    Reply
  120. Jennifer

    Hi from Mexico!! Love science live Wednesday .

    Reply
  121. Drako

    This was so helpful.

    Reply
  122. Camila

    Always love these! This video is a great look back at the ingenuity required to make Ethernet the standard it is today. The collision problem was a real hurdle, and it’s amazing to see how it was solved!

    Reply
  123. Elaine

    Acellus and Science Live is great!

    Reply
  124. Jailore

    This is such a cool topic! How did the engineers at Xerox decide between the 4 twisted cables and the star set-up after moving on from the straight line?

    Reply
  125. Edward

    Im really loving this

    Reply
  126. Garrett

    The Ethernet is so complicated.

    Reply
  127. Aubrey

    Love the live!

    Reply
  128. Hazel

    never heard about ethernet before, learning about it was so cool

    Reply
  129. Nivedita

    It would have been really fun and interesting to be one of the people who would hand soder the circuit boards together!

    Reply
  130. James

    early Ethernet had so many accidents before they were fixed.Amazing!

    Reply
  131. Rebecca

    Hello from Florida! šŸ™‚

    Reply
  132. Quynh

    fun live

    Reply
  133. Auriel

    I never really thought about the ethernet being like a rats nest, but it kind of makes sense in a way oddly enough. The Ethernet is pretty complex when debugging it or checking for anything in general. Same with ethernet cords, most of the time when you see the cords they are almost always jumbled up in other cords.

    Reply
  134. Riley

    Hello from Florida

    Reply
  135. Brooklyn

    Hi from Alabama

    Reply
  136. Jade

    ethernet went through a lot before it was fixed

    Reply
  137. Jude

    How long does it take to fix an Ethernet collisions?

    Reply
  138. Aaden

    It was the miss click, cool I can’t believe so many people want to steal your ideas! You’re cool

    Reply
  139. Millicent

    Hello from texas

    Reply
  140. Keaton

    hi from sc

    Reply
  141. Kaydence

    Loved this!!!!

    Reply
  142. Benjamin

    Hello from GA

    Reply

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