Fiber optics are made of a bundle of thin glass or plastic strands. This bundle allows light to pass through without leaking out. Since the light is unable to escape, crystal clear images are passed through the fiber optics from the point of origin to the destination, where they can be viewed by the user. Fiber optics is used to create Internet data and images, images of internal organs, vocal sounds in telephones, and more than 80% of cable and satellite television images. Due to the clarity of the wiring in fiber optics, images and sounds can travel at extremely high speeds without becoming distorted at any point.

In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated how light could be used to transfer sounds from one area to another. Though it did not work on cloudy days, his discovery did set the stage for fiber optics. A few decades later, the first set of bundled fiber optics cables was developed, though it was not called "fiber optics" at the time.

In 1930, a German student named Heinrich Lamm demonstrated how fiber optics could be used to examine internal body parts. Since the images were unclear, however, he did not receive a patent for his invention. In 1956, the term "fiber optics" was born when Narinder Kapany coined the term after bundling a few glass rods. He then demonstrated that these rods could project light without leaking at any point, as long as they were wrapped or coated in a dark material.

By 1960, Dr. Charles Kao realized the potential of fiber optics. Dr. Kao suggested fiber optics could be used for fast, clear communications. In the 1970's, a company called Corning Glass created the first optical fiber made entirely of thin strands of glass. This led to Bell Telephone's determination that these fibers could be used to make telephone cables in order to transmit crystal clear conversations from one side of the United States to the other. It would be another ten years before fiber optics linked the United States to Europe.