How Silica Gel Took Over the World

> 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.

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.