Thinking big

[KaiYeves]

This is a thought exercise I used with my friends at a stargazing session to help them understand big numbers:
You have ten fingers and ten toes. Ten miles can probably get you to a friend's house. Ten years ago, Bill Clinton was president.

Ten times ten is one hundred. One hundred miles is about the distance from Washington D.C. to Richmond, Virginia. One hundred years ago, Teddy Roosevelt was president.

One thousand miles is roughly how far Ernest Shackleton sailed to save his crew or the distance from our town to Florida. One thousand years ago, it was the Middle Ages.

One million miles will take you way past the moon, but not yet to Venus or Mars. One million years ago, it was the Plestocene Epoch and humans were still evolving.

One billion miles is about a third of the way to Pluto. One billion years ago, some diamonds that you wear today were still forming.

One trillion miles gets you pretty far away from Earth. The nearest star is about 25 trillion miles away and even the sun's light takes four years to get there. One trillion years ago is before the Big Bang and thus impossible.

Comments?

[Chuck]

I think Pluto is over 3 billion miles away.

[KaiYeves]

I think Pluto is over 3 billion miles away.
Encarta says it's some hundred millions from the sun.

[Halcyon Dayz]

Encarta says it's some hundred millions from the sun.

On this board it is very important to always double-check your facts. :)

And there is no such thing as a 100% reliable source.
People made it.

[Tobin Dax]

On this board it is very important to always double-check your facts. :)

And there is no such thing as a 100% reliable source.
People made it.
Textbooks are pretty reliable, considering how many hands they go through. Astronomy Today, 5th Ed., gives the semi-major axis of Pluto's orbit as 3.67 billion miles away.

[Gruesome]

Sure, it is easy for everyone to comprehend ten fingers and toes.

But once you start expanding the model, even the smartest of you have a hard time visualizing the distances involved.

For example, hold both hands in front of you, thumbs touching and fingers spread wide. Earth resides at the tip of your left pinky. The edge of the universe resides at the tip of your right. If your an NBA power forward the distace between the two may be only two feet. Fine.

But trying to analogize that distance in universal terms, is quite tough. The sun is 93 million miles away, but can any of us truly comprehend such distances.

To paraphrase the rule of goverment spending...add billions and billions of miles and soon you're talking about serious distances. Or Don Adams...Space is big. REALLY BIG. You simply can't imagine how hugely, incredibly big it is.

Sure we can all add, but does that mean we are capable of understanding the numbers??

Methinks not. Unless you've driven it.

[weatherc]

...Or Don Adams...Space is big. REALLY BIG. You simply can't imagine how hugely, incredibly big it is.I think you mean Douglas Adams, not Don Adams. :)

[Jeff Root]

Missed it by that much.

Multiplying by ten is good. Two also works:
http://www.freemars.org/jeff/2exp100/question.htm

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[Maksutov]

I think you mean Douglas Adams, not Don Adams. :)Sorry, chief!

[farmerjumperdon]

Methinks not. Unless you've driven it.

In which case I would measure it in terms of tankfulls of gas and number of potty stops.

[Gruesome]

I think you mean Douglas Adams, not Don Adams. :)

DOH!!

[speedfreek]

You might consider changing your time factor from years to seconds, as you have run out of years by the time you reach our nearest neighbouring star, then again, you are also running out of words to describe miles too! Perhaps the powers of approach is better?

[Noclevername]

Perhaps the powers of approach is better?

For teenage girls who went to public shool? Probably times-ten is easier to instinctively grasp.

[Jeff Root]

number of potty stops.
Does that mean you read the web pages I linked above, or is it
a coincidence?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[hhEb09'1]

One million years ago, it was the Ice Age.The last "ice age" was 10,000 years ago. The earth may have been in an ice age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_glaciation) a million years ago, but I think it's gone in and out of ice age a few times since.Encarta says it's some hundred millions from the sun.Is some 37? :)

[KaiYeves]

Thanks. I've fixed the figure for Pluto.
For teenage girls who went to public shool? Probably times-ten is easier to instinctively grasp.
It wasn't all girls, there were some boys.
I wasn't going any farther than trillions, just because we were talking about planets.

[mugaliens]

Space is big. REALLY BIG. You simply can't imagine how hugely, incredibly big it is.

I've heard quotes that the average density of the universe is about one molecule per cubic meter. Considering the fact that there are 33 billion billion molecules of water in a single drop, that tells you how empty it really is.

[Trebuchet]

I've heard quotes that the average density of the universe is about one molecule per cubic meter. Considering the fact that there are 33 billion billion molecules of water in a single drop, that tells you how empty it really is.

It's a homeopathic universe!

[HenrikOlsen]

Nah. Too concentrated.