From: Paul Doherty (pauld@exploratorium.edu)
Date: Wed Jan 14 2004 - 16:47:52 PST
Message-Id: <l03110715bc2b92adfabe@[192.168.111.197]> Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:47:52 -0800 From: Paul Doherty <pauld@exploratorium.edu> Subject: Re: pinhole number of protons on earth
Hi Lara
I did it all in my head without consulting a reference book
I used 6 x 10^24 kg for the mass of the earth and divided it by 1.6 x
10^-27 kg for the mass of the proton and the neutron.
to get 3 x 10^51 protons and neutrons of which half of the earth is protons.
Then I rounded off to the nearest facttor of 10 power of ten to get the
approximate number of 10^50.
The number in the atmosphere doesn't even matter at this level of
approximation.
Paul D
>Paul,
>
>I love it! How did you (or your source) come up with that number
>(10^50)? How inclusive into earth's atmosphere is that number?
>
>-- Lara Kipperman
>Washington High School
>SFUSD
>
>On Tuesday, January 13, 2004, at 11:20 PM, Pinhole Listserv wrote:
>
>> There are about 10^50 protons and an equal number of electrons in the
>> earth,
>> Wherever you get 10 billion extra electrons on earth a lightning bolt
>> results and restores the balance.
>>
>> Paul D
>
>
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