How Many Atoms Are There In The World?

Atoms-notes-and-queries-007

Earlier today I received a reader-submitted question from Bryan in New York. He asks, “How many atoms are there on Earth?”

Whether purposefully or not, Bryan has asked a very difficult question, and one that is nearly impossible to answer exactly. But, thanks to science, we can estimate.

According to the US Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab, the answer is:

133,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

That answer comes from an estimation of the number of atoms in each of Earth’s elements, like Iron, Oxygen, Silicon, Magnesium, Sulfur … etc. Adding them all together, we get a number that works as an estimate.

28 Comments

  1. that is so freakishly awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. Well, as Asap Science says, theeeeeeeeere’s hydrogen and helium and lithium, berillium, boron, carbon everywhere, nitrogen all through the air, oxygen for you to breathe and flourine for your for pretty teath, neon to light up those signs, sodium for salty times.

  3. I actually agree, because each type of atom has different mass. Just like each type of virus, bacteria etc. has a different mass.

  4. that means if i do math the universe has i think 5757038000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    atoms

  5. And if this blows your mind, just think about the ways you can arrange a deck of 52 playing cards. That number is 52 factorial, which is billions and billions of orders of magnitude larger than the
    number that you’ve already come up with

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