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How Silica Gel Took Over the World

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225 points Hooke | 2 comments | 01 Apr 25 19:33 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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jchw ◴[01 Apr 25 20:49 UTC] No.43551172[source]▶
> That single gram of silica gel could have an internal surface area of eight hundred square meters—the size of almost two basketball courts.

For us Americans, that's about 8600 square feet...and around a seventh of a football field.

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wkat4242 ◴[02 Apr 25 00:57 UTC] No.43552784[source]▶
Yeah it's a bit of a weird way the article puts it. Measuring in square meters but then referencing basket ball courts which are almost nonexistent in Europe :). They should have used a football (but soccer, not the American kind) field. Though in that case I guess it will be a fairly small division of one too which makes it sound smaller than it is.

I honestly have no idea how big a basketball court is.

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1. jajko ◴[02 Apr 25 08:36 UTC] No.43554719[source]▶
What do you mean they don't exist. I see them everywhere, indoor, outdoor, also every single school gym regardless of level is also a basketball court. I've lived in 3 countries here east & west Europe and this is valid across different places and cultures.
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2. wkat4242 ◴[03 Apr 25 05:08 UTC] No.43564983[source]▶
Huh weird I've never seen one in Netherlands or Spain. In the Netherlands it's not popular at all though we have a similar thing that is ("korfbal").

My school did have these basketball boards but we never used them and I'm pretty sure the room was not sized for them either.