A Googol of Atoms? A Directed, Interrupted Case in Estimation and Large Numbers

How big is a googol?

To start, here are 10 dots (covering about 1-inch):

If we make a square 10 dots on a side, we have 100 dots:

If we fill a 10 x 10 x 10 cube with dots, we have 1000 dots, something like this:

If we made this cube 10 times larger on each side (10 inches), we’d have 1,000,000 dots inside;
10 times larger than that on each side (100 inches = 8.3 feet) we'd have 1,000,000,000 dots;
10 times larger than that on each side (1000 inches = 83 feet) we'd have 1,000,000,000,000 dots.

Words for big numbers, while meaningful, are awkward.  For example, you cannot do mathematical manipulations with words; try multiplying the words billion and trillion!  In any case, the numbers soon become large, difficult to imagine, and there’s no simple word for them.

We’ll now look at some astronomical numbers.  Use whatever reference sources you need (including the Internet).  Be sure the units of the numbers are consistent.

We can discuss the amount of matter in a variety of ways.  One is in terms of mass—the number of kilograms, say.  In chemistry, one might discuss the number of moles.  Or, the amount of matter might be discussed in terms of the number of atoms.  In the discussion to come, you will begin with kilograms or moles and then make a calculation to obtain the number of atoms, which you’ll then compare to a googol.