There are moments in life that can feel disheartening. There are instances where you find yourself in a dark place.
And then, there’s the scenario of a 31-year-old man meticulously arranging Sour Patch Kids on his kitchen counter in the quiet of his apartment at 2:00 am.
To comprehend how this peculiar situation unfolded, let’s take a few steps back to midnight, as I sat in front of my computer staring at a partially completed post that I despised.
The trouble with inadequate Blue Jay Blog posts is that they mask themselves as good content until you invest considerable time in them, only to unveil their true nature as subpar posts, leaving you stranded in despair, realizing the need to discard all your efforts and commence anew.
So, at midnight, I made a decision to shift my focus to a post I had been eager to create for a while—a visual representation of colossal numbers, aiding in comprehending words like “quadrillion.”
The rational option would have been to use cubes similar to the wooden ones we encountered in our 3rd-grade classrooms, but in a mix of desperation and delirium late at night, I inexplicably opted to use Sour Patch Kids as my unit of measurement. I can’t explain this decision any better than you can understand it, but it led me to venture to a 7-Eleven at 1:00 am to gaze at this wall for around 70 seconds:
Surprisingly, there were no Sour Patch Kids to be found.
I meandered through the store for a while until I stumbled upon this, which I scrutinized for an extended period before concluding that it wasn’t what I desired.
I then proceeded to a nearby convenience store where, to my disappointment, they only stocked an off-putting “eXtreme” version of Sour Patch Kids. Despite my discontent, considering the late hour and my weariness, I deemed them passable and purchased ten bags.
I can only speculate what the cashier thought as I made this 1:30 am purchase, probably deeming me as someone about to host one of the saddest solo parties in history.
Upon my return home, I tore open the bags and commenced the measurement process.
3cm x 1cm x .5cm.
Subsequently, I arranged 10 of them in a row. Take note of the unattractive, fluorescent hues selected for the Sour Patch Kids eXtreme brand by Cadbury:
Next, I placed an additional set of 50 to create a total of 100:
Continuing, I carefully stacked 50 eXtreme Sour Patch Kids on top of another 50 eXtreme Sour Patch Kids, a solitary act at 2 am, marking a low point amidst a night filled with self-loathing. Moving ahead—
Fortunately, I managed to copy and paste for all future constructions. The following step involved creating a stack of ten of the 100-structure units above to form 1,000:
This box measures 10cm x 10cm x 15cm, hence a container holding 1 million Sour Patch Kids equates to a 1m x 1m x 1.5m box:
Expanding this to 1,000 of those containers brings us to a 10m x 10m x 15m box, accommodating 1 billion Sour Patch Kids. Slightly shorter than the top of the Green Monster:
Continuing on to a trillion Sour Patch Kids, stacking 1,000 of those boxes reveals a 100m x 100m x 150m box that encompasses a section of Central Park:
This depiction aids in grasping the enormity of a trillion. As a notably significant figure, a trillion frequently emerges in everyday life dealings, particularly concerning finances and government. A tightly-packed stack of a trillion Sour Patch Kids would span a football field and reach the height of a 30-story building.
Transitioning into realm of numbers typically beyond human comprehension, my peculiar Sour Patch Kids method comes in handy.
By aggregating 1,000 of the football stadium-sized trillion boxes and arranging them in a 10 x 10 x 10 formation, with dimensions measuring 1km x 1km x 1.5km, we arrive at 1 quadrillion Sour Patch Kids, spreading across most of Downtown Manhattan. A quadrillion represents a thousand trillion or a million billion, and in numerical form, it is 1,000,000,000,000,000.
For perspective, I juxtaposed the Empire State Building and Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, alongside the box.
Curious how a quintillion compares? At their maximum cruising altitude, commercial flights soar marginally above the peak of a 10km x 10km x 15km box, dominating a large portion of West LA:
Ever pondered on the minuteness of an atom? Inside a speck of salt lie 1.2 quintillion atoms, making the towering stack of tightly-packed Sour Patch Kids appear insignificant. Intriguingly, NPR states that the total number of sand grains worldwide is approximately 7.5 quintillion, merely a sevenfold increase from the atoms within a grain of salt. Furthermore, 1.7 quintillion Sour Patch Kids would be adequate to blanket the entire Earth. Pictured below is 1.7 quintillion, which spread flat would cover every inch of the globe:
Progressing to 1,000 quintillion boxes, we venture into the realm of 1 sextillion, equivalent to a billion of the trillion boxes observed in Central Park. A sextillion Sour Patch Kids amass into a 100km x 100km x 150km stack, enveloping Switzerland. Notice the aircraft illustrating the highest altitude of commercial airplanes:
Moving further, 1,000 sextillion results in 1 septillion, accommodating a septillion Sour Patch Kids in a volume of 1,000km x 1,000km x 1,500km, encompassing a vast expanse extending deep into space, surpassing the international space station:
Recall Avogadro’s Number from chemistry class? This figure represents the count of hydrogen molecules in a gram of hydrogen, as well as the atoms in a mole, totaling 6.022e23 or .6 septillion, correlating to 60% of the depicted box above. Avogadro, regrettably, did not possess an attractive countenance.
A progression to 1,000 septillion leads to 1 octillion, signifying a point where all relevant references dissipate. An octillion Sour Patch Kids reaches a magnitude comparable to that of Earth:
Combining 1,000 Earth-sized octillion boxes results in a nonillion, housing 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Sour Patch Kids. This extensive collection spans approximately half the distance between the Earth and the moon (384,400 km), with both objects depicted to scale:
The exploration could continue into decillions, examining their size relative to the sun, and beyond, delving into distances spanning the solar system and the galaxy. However, for now, I halt my journey. This article delves into large numbers, steering clear of astronomical distances. Rest assured, a comprehensive post on space and distances is forthcoming as my fascination with astronomy has been a lifelong affair since the age of three.
Fun fact: Sour Patch Kids lack in quality. Nothing reveals their factory-made and cost-effective nature more than unpacking ten bags and contemplating their essence.
Additional fun fact: I consumed no less than 30 Sour Patch Kids throughout the night, even as my aversion towards them grew while constructing my 100-piece ensemble.
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Two more Blue Jay Blog posts on mind-bogglingly large numbers:
From 1 to 1,000,000
From 1,000,000 to Graham’s Number
And three other Pointless Calculation posts:
Fitting all humans in a building
All the world’s wealth in a gold cube
All the world’s water in cubic containers
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