A fiber optic cable consists of five basic components: the core, the cladding, the coating, the strengthening fibers, and the cable jacket. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging, and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to carry light into, or images out of confined spaces. Fiber optic cables transmit information across vast distances by guiding light pulses through a transparent medium. The material composition determines the fiber's performance, including how far and how fast data can travel. Unlike traditional copper or.