Monday, September 15, 2008
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Doing a Little Math- Can You Measure How Much God Loves You?
by mr pine
Quite some time ago, a friend told me that he had heard that there are more stars in the Universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on earth. I thought that this was ridiculous at first but found out later that he was right... at least according to astronomers. Then another friend recently put a photo on his xanga page that shows galaxies that are millions of light years away from each other but are in the same miniscule field of vision for the Hubble telescope.
For me, it's hard to accept things unless I wrestle with it myself, so I actually did some estimating and calculating to see if this "more stars in the universe than grains of sand" theory holds up.
First, the facts:
meters of coastline in the world (government CIA website):
356,000 km or 356,000,000 metersradius of an average grain of sand (wikipedia):
1/4 mm or 0.00025 metersestimated # of stars in the known universe (space.com):
7 x 1022, that is, 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000Next, some assumptions:
(I think these are pretty conservative)Depth of sand on an average beach: 5 meters (enough to bury a semi-trailer completely)
Width of an average beach: 100 meters (about the length of a football field)Finally, some calculations:
Volume of a grain of sand, assuming it's more or less spherical:
6.55 x 10-11 m3 or 0.0000000000655 cubic metersNumber of grains of sand in one cubic meter: (1m3 / volume of a grain of sand)
1.53 x 1010 m or 15 billion grainsFor reference, if you had one grain of sand for each person on earth, that much would easily fit in the trunk of your car.
Volume of sand in all the beaches of the world [V = (length) x (width) x (depth)]:
1.78 x 1011 m3 or 178 billion cubic metersLastly, the number of grains of sand on all the beaches:
15 billion x 178 billion equals 2.7 x 1021 grains or 2,700,000,000,000,000,000,000That is to say that there are about 25 stars for every grain of sand on all the beaches of the world!
Margin of Error?
Now, I know what you might be thinking... okay, what if the estimates for anything are off? Well, considering it beats it by a factor of 25, I'd say it's a pretty good margin of error. So even if
- the grains of sand had the consistency of powdered sugar or
- the length of beaches was enough to encircle the earth 222 times or
- the beaches were 1.5 miles wide or
- the average depth of sand was enough to bury 3 Statues of Liberty, one on top of the other or
- every variable was off by 500% (including number of stars)
the statement would still hold true.
But, wait, there's more...
Now wrap your brain around this... there are about as many atoms in a gold coin the size of a silver dollar as there are stars in the universe.
And the God who created all of it, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the vast universe, loves you - not in general like altruists or really friendly people... He loves YOU, (insert name here), more than anyone has ever loved anyone in all of history. And that is something you can never measure.
Do you ever feel insignificant in our great, big universe? Do you ever need to be reminded that you are loved by its Creator?
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Comments (13)
As an astrophysics major, this makes me happy.
And I would have to say that He has, in tiny ways that I only notice when I think about it. But those are the best ways, I think.
Great to remember. Thanks, the math was fun.
He, often, reminds me...
Amazing!
@walkintotheseaaa@xanga - you're an astrophysics major!??! so cool! does that mean that you'll be a rocket scientist??
if so - we gotta be friends - cause i need you to verify when someone says "it doesn't take a rocket scientist to....."
math makes my head hurt. but this post made me laugh - well done mr pine...well done.
Well said!
Sometimes we just have to accept the fact that we're too little as human beings to judge what's out there in the universe.
But still, God chose to die for us, these insignificant human beings.
Now that's amazing!
what about sand in the desert? sorry, couldn't resist asking that one. but I see your point. =)
@chrischoi - Yes and no to the astrophysics major. Yes, I plan on officially being one when I finally enroll in college in a few years, because I'm a junior in high school. But I'm not totally lying here. I take non-degree seeking astrophysics courses at the college I plan on attending through the internet. And I did a little half-internship, half-learning thing with NASA at Kennedy Space Center this summer. I met and worked with several engineers and physicists in high places, one of whom has ensured me a full internship in college. I even co-engineered an idea they may use on the new rockets for the Constellation program, but I'm not supposed to tell too much.
And astrophysics isn't rocket science, aerospace engineering is, but I plan on double-majoring in the two fields.
Ha, any questions you want answered about the fields, I'm your girl. I'm pretty well read.
Awesome post!! I think about this often, but to see it laid out this way was really neat! That was really cool. Props to you for it!
I do need to be reminded of this occasionally, that the God who made all of this loves me. Going outside under the starry sky and talking to Him helps. Posts like this help, too.@walkintotheseaaa@xanga - well much obliged - and pleasure to meet you here
"Do you ever feel insignificant in our great, big universe?"
Yes. When you start to think about how big it is, it can really make you feel tiny.
"Do you ever need to be reminded that you are loved by its Creator?"
No. How can an impersonal evolutionary force "love" you?
My brain can't handle that kind of math, but it does understand and appreciate pictures. I saw a small exhibit of photos taken by the Hubble Telescope. There was one picture that showed many swirls of galaxies in one frame. I thought it looked cool. Then I actually thought about it. We live on one little dot in one swirl of our own.
It was like a Who meeting Horton.
Suddenly a big God just got bigger. And yet, I can feel his love for me, surrounding me. Why? Why does He love me, He who can create such things?