Tweet
We are currently in the midst of the largest international men’s soccer tournament: The 2014 FIFA World Cup. I’ve been watching the matches from Glasgow and enjoying the electrifying atmosphere. Let’s go USA!!
There are lots of excellent statics regarding the game but I venture to ask:
How many nanoparticles can fit in a soccer ball?
An official FIFA soccer ball must between 60 and 70cm in circumference.
The nanoparticles I’ve been using in my experiments are 40nm in diameter.
A few calculations in a simple volume per volume calculation excel and the number of nanoparticles in a soccer ball is on order of 1*1020 .
This number is unfathomable!!! This is more than a billion times larger than the number of humans on Earth.
So, how big would a ball be if it contained 1 nanoparticle for every person in the world?
The ball would have a radius the same size as a human hair! That’s some perspective.
Great analogy. It really demonstrates the size of things.
What is the assumed packing density? Spheres can be packed in a number of different ‘close-packed’ configurations.
Pete, I performed a pure volume per volume calculation. Given the order of the answer, I don’t believe a more precise calculation would aid in understanding the magnitude of the answer.