I think it's a close call. Take the average diameter of a grain of sand at 1mm (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/IlanaPrice.shtml) and assume the earth is covered in a layer of sand one meter deep. It's not all that different that the star estimate. Maybe there's not that much sand, but maybe the average diameter is smaller. While is it conceivable that we could count the grains of sand, I don't see how to count the stars, so a one-to-one mapping attempt is infeasible. Hilarie
To: math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> From: Simon Plouffe <simon.plouffe@gmail.com> Subject: [math-fun] a question of sand Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:00:46 +0100
Hello ,
I read recently that the calculated the approx. amount of stars in the known universe to be 7x10^22, which is according to source, greater than the number of grains of sand in all the deserts and beaches on earth.
Well, this is quite big, but as I was explaining this to some people around me,
is there a known value of the number of grains of sand in let's say 1 cubic meter of sand ? I know some are very small and others are bigger : does someone has an approximate value ? I tried to find without success and also I have no idea on how to calculate this simple value.
Thanks for any answer(!).
source : a certain australian study : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe
best regards and have a nice evening.
Simon Plouffe