4 ms·

Are you suggesting that most americans have a good grasp of how much water a cubic mile is? Surely the standard unit for this sort of thing is multiples of wel

Are you suggesting that most americans have a good grasp of how much water a cubic mile is? Surely the standard unit for this sort of thing is multiples of well known large lakes or seas?

dgfitz 2y ago
A cubic mile isn't a widely-used measurement of volume. Everyone knows what a 2-liter of soda looks like.
- driggs 2y ago
  But everyone knows how long a mile is, and can imagine a cube one mile long one mile wide and one mile high. Though we can't truly grasp the scale, we can at least understand the magnitude of a value of ~ten million. But quoting a value of 4.4 x 10^19 liters is meaningless for most people. "Of course, that's 22,000,000,000,000,000,000 two-liter soda bottles!" So cubic miles seems like a reasonable unit for this pop-science article, despite the fact that you likely wouldn't use it in a published journal article.
  - dgfitz 2y ago
    > But everyone knows how long a mile is Yeah. Long. I doubt most people can eyeball something in the distance and say with accuracy "yeah that is about a mile away" because a mile is really long and people are bad at estimating things. Now do it for 10 miles. A relatable example like someone has mentioned "its about 10 dead seas worth" would have been a better play.
    - tshaddox 2y ago
      I’d guess a lot of Americans can look at a globe and eyeball 100 miles or 1,000 miles. At least American adults with a lot of driving experience. When you get into the millions of cubic miles of water, I think the best way to visualize it is a cube sitting next to the globe.
huygens6363 2y ago
I refuse to acknowledge anything but multiples of Libraries of Congress.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  I think I'm going to need a conversion to bald eagle volumes, or square hamburger-feet.
  - jvanderbot 2y ago
    This is liquid: Cans of Coke or Coors are standard units (CCC) In this case, 1.48 * 10^20 CCC
marcellus23 2y ago
Just picture how long a mile is, and then imagine a cube where each side is that long.

Are you suggesting that most americans have a good grasp of how much water a cubic mile is? Surely the standard unit for this sort of thing is multiples of well known large lakes or seas?

dgfitz 2y ago

A cubic mile isn't a widely-used measurement of volume. Everyone knows what a 2-liter of soda looks like.

driggs 2y ago
But everyone knows how long a mile is, and can imagine a cube one mile long one mile wide and one mile high. Though we can't truly grasp the scale, we can at least understand the magnitude of a value of ~ten million. But quoting a value of 4.4 x 10^19 liters is meaningless for most people. "Of course, that's 22,000,000,000,000,000,000 two-liter soda bottles!" So cubic miles seems like a reasonable unit for this pop-science article, despite the fact that you likely wouldn't use it in a published journal article.
- dgfitz 2y ago
  > But everyone knows how long a mile is Yeah. Long. I doubt most people can eyeball something in the distance and say with accuracy "yeah that is about a mile away" because a mile is really long and people are bad at estimating things. Now do it for 10 miles. A relatable example like someone has mentioned "its about 10 dead seas worth" would have been a better play.
  - tshaddox 2y ago
    I’d guess a lot of Americans can look at a globe and eyeball 100 miles or 1,000 miles. At least American adults with a lot of driving experience. When you get into the millions of cubic miles of water, I think the best way to visualize it is a cube sitting next to the globe.

huygens6363 2y ago

I refuse to acknowledge anything but multiples of Libraries of Congress.

ryandrake 2y ago
I think I'm going to need a conversion to bald eagle volumes, or square hamburger-feet.
- jvanderbot 2y ago
  This is liquid: Cans of Coke or Coors are standard units (CCC) In this case, 1.48 * 10^20 CCC

marcellus23 2y ago

Just picture how long a mile is, and then imagine a cube where each side is that long.