Just heard on the discovery channel that everyday in Alaska, 20 thousand trillion tons of ice move across Alaska. That number is hard to understand.:eek:
Printable View
Just heard on the discovery channel that everyday in Alaska, 20 thousand trillion tons of ice move across Alaska. That number is hard to understand.:eek:
ohhhhhhh....like my bank account.....got it.
20(quad),000(tri),000(bil),000(mil),000(thou),000. ..
You is right!!! Thanks... Buy hey, I was only 1,000 times low (000).
so would be this in pounds;
40,000,000,000,000,000,000... or 40 quintillion pounds? Eh?
WTF??? Just checked at websters.com...
I know they've got money and weight messed up there... but what gives them the right to have a different counting system???Quote:
quin·til·lion /kwɪnˈtɪlyən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kwin-til-yuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, plural -lions, (as after a numeral) -lion, adjective
–noun
1. a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 18 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 30 zeros.
–adjective
2. amounting to one quintillion in number.
1 ft^3 of ice = ~65 lbs
1 cy of ice = ~1755 lbs
1 sqmi = ~30 million sqyd = ~ 30 million tons per 3 feet thick
Alaska only has 570,374 sqmi of area
Lets say it's 3000 feet thick so
1 sqmi @ 3000' = 30 billion tons ice
20,000,000,000,000,000
-----------------------
30,000,000,000
equals ~670,000 Square miles of ice, 3000 feet deep. And that would cover all of Alaska and a good part of BC.
I think you need to get your ears cleaned.
If you're going to get all technical on it, I'd suggest that the ice can probably cover the lakes and the bays that make up the remaining 86k square miles of what is technically Alaska. That leaves only 3k or so square miles to ice for Canada and I suspect most of that would go to the Yukon with the longest border with AK.
Of course, we're both making lots of assumptions which only reinforces the fact that if your calculations are correct he heard wrong.
I get 7,357,962 square miles
[40,000,000,000,000,000,000/(5280*5280*3000*65)]
--maybe he could of heard wrong....but it was cool to think about that much ice moving
math is tough at this hour though--I hope it is right
always possible i heard it wrong, but the wife and I both heard that #(does not mean it is right). It was on Fearless Planet on the Disc. Channel. A LOT of ice regardless.
I saw that last night too. Dont know what the number was 2 or 20 or whatever, but it was definitely x thousand trillion tons.
"Hoo-jers"
Ah, metric system...
1 ton = 1000 kgs = 1000 liters = 1 cubic meter.
That's still a shitload of ice.
Except it is [40e18lbs/(5280ft/mile*5280ft/mile*3000ft*65lb/ft^3)] = 7,357,000 miles^2....right?Quote:
Originally Posted by DJSapp
http://www.historyplace.com/specials...challenger.jpg
edit: I'm a moron
http://www.aero.org/publications/cro...ages/02_03.jpg
Ahh unit conversions --if this isn't right I have a lot of work to recheck
lb/(ft/mi*ft/mi*ft*lb/ft^3 )-->lb/(lb/mi^2)
lb/(lb/mi^2) = lb * mi^2/lb = mi^2
Oops, sorry gorm, I'm f'd up, our numbers do agree within rounding.
BZZT!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by djsapp
1 sqmi = ~ 3 million sqyd, therefore 6.7 million sqmi, 3000 ft thick with a bunch of rounding done by me.
Fun fact: the surface of the earth is 197,000,000 sqmi.
The 20,000 trillion number may have been the amount of ice on the planet, as far as alaska, I don't buy it.
It's always amusing watching Americans and Brits try to figure out big numbers and measurements.
American: "So, we've concluded that we are 100 quintrillion dollars in debt."
Britmerican: "That jibes with our data: 100 gillintons, give or take a wick-be-tralling or two."
American: "Let's move on to the weight of that big rock over there."
Britmerican: "The one near the lorry?"
American: "His name is Laurie? How tall do you think that guy is, btw?"
Britmerican: "I'd say the rock weighs about 10 stone, a guilder, two ricklebrakes, and a half-bushel of acorns. And I'd guess Mr. Laurie to be 1 rod, seven leagues tall...maybe a rod, seven leagues, and a grain."
American: "I figure the rock at 16 cubits minus a half-ricklebrake. Laurie at three furlongs minus a dram."
Britamerican: "Could be. Care for a lemon squash?"
American: "Boy howdy, do I! It'll go great with these deep-fried cheesecakeburgers."