3 ms·

TIL - All humans stood on top of each other would be significantly taller than the diameter of the Sun.

prmph 2y ago
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.
- blowski 2y ago
  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.
  - swader999 2y ago
    That would get pretty stinky though.
    - blowski 2y ago
      The "What If?" books by Randall Munroe (of XKCD fame) cover topics like this with that kind of thought process.
    - BlueTemplar 2y ago
      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 !
- ninkendo 2y ago
  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.
  - ReptileMan 2y ago
    The many ways that protein can fold.
  - skinner_ 2y ago
    But if you pack the same atoms in a cube, that's 17 centimeters. ((8e9*7e17)^(1/3)*1e-10=0.17)
    - ninkendo 2y ago
      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+human 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%2F3%29*1e-10 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.
- non-chalad 2y ago
  Give every human an acre of land, and we'd all easily fit into Texas.
  - slingnow 2y ago
    There are 8 billion people on earth. And Texas is 172 million acres. I don't think the math works out.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - ghkbrew 2y ago
      We (the humans) would fit into Texas regardless of whether the land we owned would ;-)
    - non-chalad 2y ago
      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.

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.

blowski 2y ago
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.
- swader999 2y ago
  That would get pretty stinky though.
  - blowski 2y ago
    The "What If?" books by Randall Munroe (of XKCD fame) cover topics like this with that kind of thought process.
  - BlueTemplar 2y ago
    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 !
ninkendo 2y ago
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.
- ReptileMan 2y ago
  The many ways that protein can fold.
- skinner_ 2y ago
  But if you pack the same atoms in a cube, that's 17 centimeters. ((8e9*7e17)^(1/3)*1e-10=0.17)
  - ninkendo 2y ago
    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+human 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%2F3%29*1e-10 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.
non-chalad 2y ago
Give every human an acre of land, and we'd all easily fit into Texas.
- slingnow 2y ago
  There are 8 billion people on earth. And Texas is 172 million acres. I don't think the math works out.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - ghkbrew 2y ago
    We (the humans) would fit into Texas regardless of whether the land we owned would ;-)
  - non-chalad 2y ago
    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.