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Scale of the Universe

(scaleofuniverse.com)
249 points Leftium | 15 comments | 19 Apr 24 03:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
1. blowski ◴[19 Apr 24 10:54 UTC] No.40085247[source]▶
TIL - All humans stood on top of each other would be significantly taller than the diameter of the Sun.
replies(1): >>40085582 #
2. prmph ◴[19 Apr 24 11:44 UTC] No.40085582[source]▶
Cool.

And yet all humans alive, if packed like sardines, will fit in a 1 mile cube, with room to spare.

Physical dimensions can be an amazing un-intuitive thing.

replies(3): >>40085712 #>>40085723 #>>40086735 #
3. blowski ◴[19 Apr 24 12:01 UTC] No.40085712[source]▶
Gosh, you're right.

Assuming:

- 5,250 can stand front to back

- 3,500 side-by-side

- 750 on top of each other

That's more than 13 billion humans you could fit in said cube.

replies(1): >>40086035 #
4. ninkendo ◴[19 Apr 24 12:02 UTC] No.40085723[source]▶
And if you took each atom of all the humans alive and stacked them in a line (assuming 1 angstrom per atom and 7E17 atoms in a human), it would be roughly 60 light years long.
replies(2): >>40087855 #>>40094067 #
5. swader999 ◴[19 Apr 24 12:35 UTC] No.40086035{3}[source]▶
That would get pretty stinky though.
replies(2): >>40086055 #>>40088749 #
6. blowski ◴[19 Apr 24 12:37 UTC] No.40086055{4}[source]▶
The "What If?" books by Randall Munroe (of XKCD fame) cover topics like this with that kind of thought process.
7. non-chalad ◴[19 Apr 24 13:42 UTC] No.40086735[source]▶
Give every human an acre of land, and we'd all easily fit into Texas.
replies(1): >>40087098 #
8. slingnow ◴[19 Apr 24 14:14 UTC] No.40087098{3}[source]▶
There are 8 billion people on earth. And Texas is 172 million acres. I don't think the math works out.
replies(3): >>40088142 #>>40090658 #>>40093764 #
9. ReptileMan ◴[19 Apr 24 15:14 UTC] No.40087855{3}[source]▶
The many ways that protein can fold.
10. ◴[19 Apr 24 15:36 UTC] No.40088142{4}[source]▶
11. BlueTemplar ◴[19 Apr 24 16:25 UTC] No.40088749{4}[source]▶
Also pretty hot, since if I remember correctly, the waste heat of a human is higher per volume (or was that mass ?) than of the sun !
12. ghkbrew ◴[19 Apr 24 18:52 UTC] No.40090658{4}[source]▶
We (the humans) would fit into Texas regardless of whether the land we owned would ;-)
13. non-chalad ◴[20 Apr 24 01:27 UTC] No.40093764{4}[source]▶
915 square feet is still enough for some solar cells, a bio digester, an aquaponics setup with vegetable garden, a cabinet full of quail, a cot, a rocket stove, and a small shed.
14. skinner_ ◴[20 Apr 24 02:17 UTC] No.40094067{3}[source]▶
But if you pack the same atoms in a cube, that's 17 centimeters. ((8e9*7e17)^(1/3)*1e-10=0.17)
replies(1): >>40180047 #
15. ninkendo ◴[27 Apr 24 14:06 UTC] No.40180047{4}[source]▶
Late reply but my original numbers were wrong, it’s 7E27 atoms in a human according to wolfram, I think I just misinterpreted its original output when I tried to put it all in one formula: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=how+many+atoms+in+a+hum...

The answer is still close to 60 LY (73.99LY) but it changes the cube size significantly:

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%288e9*7e27%29%5E%281%2...

(8e9*7e27)^(1/3)*1e-10 = ~382 meters on each side of the cube.