Schrödinger's hat Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) Just one of those slightly interesting, but not very meaningful things that you notice from time to time. Average human cell is a few microns. [math](10^{-6}m)^3\times 1000kg\times 10^{27}[/math] Gives somewhere on the order of 10^12 atoms about 10^13 cells in a human body. about 10^10 humans on earth about 10^11 to 10^12 stars in the galaxy about 10^12 galaxies in the observable universe about 10^10 transistors in a modern cpu. Up to 10^12 if you count storage as part of the computer. So somewhere between 10 billion and 10 trillion things make a thing that acts in a completely new way. Edited February 25, 2012 by Schrödinger's hat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xittenn Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 How many ribosomes in the human body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) So somewhere between 10 billion and 10 trillion things make a thing that acts in a completely new way. They are all examples of Emergence. Edited February 25, 2012 by StringJunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrödinger's hat Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 They are all examples of Emergence. Indeed. I was mostly commenting on how close the numbers were that took you from one scale to another. Although, upon fleshing it out, they were more widely spaced than it first looked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel123456 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Just one of those slightly interesting, but not very meaningful things that you notice from time to time. Average human cell is a few microns. [math](10^{-6}m)^3\times 1000kg\times 10^{27}[/math] Gives somewhere on the order of 10^12 atoms about 10^13 cells in a human body. about 10^10 humans on earth about 10^11 to 10^12 stars in the galaxy about 10^12 galaxies in the observable universe about 10^10 transistors in a modern cpu. Up to 10^12 if you count storage as part of the computer. So somewhere between 10 billion and 10 trillion things make a thing that acts in a completely new way. When astrophysicts describe a star, they explain the phenomena (the star) from the molecular or even atomic size directly to the size of the star, jumping over the human or even planetary size. IIRC some may even explain the whole universe directly from the subatomic level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrödinger's hat Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 When astrophysicts describe a star, they explain the phenomena (the star) from the molecular or even atomic size directly to the size of the star, jumping over the human or even planetary size. IIRC some may even explain the whole universe directly from the subatomic level. Point. There are more like 10^57 atoms in a star. I guess things in things isn't really what I was getting at. More like.....a trillion is what takes us from a scale where we speak about things one way to a scale where we speak about them differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel123456 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 (edited) Point. There are more like 10^57 atoms in a star. I guess things in things isn't really what I was getting at. More like.....a trillion is what takes us from a scale where we speak about things one way to a scale where we speak about them differently. How many atoms in the smallest possible crystal? Edited February 26, 2012 by michel123456 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xittenn Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 How may atoms in the smallest possible crystal? How, many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsiepop? 3? The world may never know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Observer Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Or perhaps they will? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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