Interesting fact of the day
- Thread starter MetalSoup
- Start date
Tony Paulsen
New member
It is hard to grasp just how small the atoms that
make up your body are until you take a look at the
sheer number of them. An adult is made up of
around 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7
octillion) atoms.
- - - Updated - - -
The atoms that make up your body are mostly
empty space, so despite there being so many of
them, without that space you would compress into
a tiny volume. The nucleus that makes up the vast
bulk of the matter in an atom is so much smaller
than the whole structure that it is comparable to
the size of a fly in a cathedral. If you lost all your
empty atomic space, your body would fit into a
cube less than 1/500th of a centimetre on each
side. Neutron stars are made up of matter that has
undergone exactly this kind of compression. In a
single cubic centimetre of neutron star material
there are around 100m tons of matter. An entire
neutron star, heavier than our sun, occupies a
sphere that is roughly the size across of the Isle of
Wight.
- - - Updated - - -
Every atom in your body is billions of years old.
Hydrogen, the most common element in the
universe and a major feature of your body, was
produced in the big bang 13.7bn years ago.
Heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen were
forged in stars between 7bn and 12bn years ago,
and blasted across space when the stars exploded.
Some of these explosions were so powerful that
they also produced the elements heavier than
iron, which stars can't construct. This means that
the components of your body are truly ancient:
you are stardust.
make up your body are until you take a look at the
sheer number of them. An adult is made up of
around 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7
octillion) atoms.
- - - Updated - - -
The atoms that make up your body are mostly
empty space, so despite there being so many of
them, without that space you would compress into
a tiny volume. The nucleus that makes up the vast
bulk of the matter in an atom is so much smaller
than the whole structure that it is comparable to
the size of a fly in a cathedral. If you lost all your
empty atomic space, your body would fit into a
cube less than 1/500th of a centimetre on each
side. Neutron stars are made up of matter that has
undergone exactly this kind of compression. In a
single cubic centimetre of neutron star material
there are around 100m tons of matter. An entire
neutron star, heavier than our sun, occupies a
sphere that is roughly the size across of the Isle of
Wight.
- - - Updated - - -
Every atom in your body is billions of years old.
Hydrogen, the most common element in the
universe and a major feature of your body, was
produced in the big bang 13.7bn years ago.
Heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen were
forged in stars between 7bn and 12bn years ago,
and blasted across space when the stars exploded.
Some of these explosions were so powerful that
they also produced the elements heavier than
iron, which stars can't construct. This means that
the components of your body are truly ancient:
you are stardust.
