3 ms·
The radius of Earth (according to Google) is 6371 km π * 6371^2 ≈1.28e8 km^2 = 1.28e11 m^2 = 1.28e10 oz of gold So, you would need 800 million pounds of gold,
by mathgorges 10y ago
The radius of Earth (according to Google) is 6371 km
π * 6371^2 ≈1.28e8 km^2 = 1.28e11 m^2 = 1.28e10 oz of gold
So, you would need 800 million pounds of gold, which would cost (at current spot price of 1324.80/oz) almost 18 trillion dollars.
Gold is probably not the best material for this
- pacificmint 10y ago800 million pounds is about 360,000 metric tons. The total amount of gold we have mined so far is somewhere around 170,000 metric tons. So if you used all the gold in the world, you'd only have about half of what you need. At the same time, I was surprised that it is even in the same ballpark.
- BurningFrog 10y agoThanks for the math help :) That's looks like the size to cover the entire planet and completely remove all sunlight. But to counteract global warming, we'd need a much smaller area. If it's 1%, we're down to a mere $180B. I'm sure you're right that other materials would be far more economical. My gut says Aluminum.
- maxander 10y agoGiven that the costs of global warming are talked in the trillions, this means that this silly thought experiment would actually be a rationally economical solution. Which just illustrates how terrible global warning really is, I suppose.