Buzz
This list reveals some of the mind-bogglingly large numbers that are part of both life and the cosmos, many of which you might not be aware of. Have you ever wondered whether there are more grains of sand than insects on Earth? Or how many seconds have passed since the Big Bang? Which astonishing fact generates the largest number?
Mathematics may not be everyone's favorite subject, but the truth is, numbers are all around us – from how many cups of coffee you consume to how much weight you lift at the gym, or even how much you got ripped off when purchasing your new car.
However, there are a few numerical facts so fascinating that even those who dislike math would find them intriguing. Specifically, these are facts related to truly gigantic numbers. Here’s a list of the top 10 most interesting facts about very large numbers.
10. The Moment You Reach Your Billionth Second of Life
Approximately half of the global population has never had the opportunity to celebrate their billionth second of life. Math tells us that your billionth second falls somewhere between your 31st and 32nd birthdays. While this might not be significant to some, for others, reaching one billion seconds is a major milestone and a fun bragging right that makes you sound incredibly wise.
To calculate this, you just need to do some simple math. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, which you can easily calculate on your phone. If you divide one billion by 86,400, you get 11,574, which is the number of days it takes to reach a billion seconds. Then, divide that by 365 (the number of days in a year), and you get about 31.7 years. So make sure to mark the date on your calendar—your billionth second only happens once!
9. The Number of Trees on Earth Compared to Stars in Our Galaxy
Millions of people love walking through forests filled with trees, but have you ever stopped to wonder how many trees exist on Earth? The answer might just astound you!
As of 2023, there are over three trillion trees on Earth! This number is a huge contrast to the population of humans, which is just over eight billion. Doing the math—three trillion divided by eight billion—means that for every person on the planet, there are 375 trees!
There are more trees on Earth than stars in our Milky Way galaxy, which contains at least 100 billion stars. To match the number of trees with stars in the galaxy, you'd need to multiply the number of stars by 30.
8. Insects vs. Sand
Humans consider themselves the dominant species on Earth, but it's not due to our numbers. For every human on Earth, there are about 1.4 billion insects, meaning the total insect population is approximately 11.2 quintillion! That's 11 followed by 18 zeros.
But what about sand? Are there more grains of sand than insects? The answer is yes—there are about seven sextillion grains of sand on Earth, which is far greater than the insect population. If you divide 7 sextillion by 11.2 quintillion, you get 625, which represents the number of sand grains for every insect on the planet.
7. Seconds since the Big Bang
Have you ever wondered how many seconds have passed since the universe began? Thanks to the work of these experts, we now have a precise figure that approximates the time that has elapsed since the Big Bang.
According to the Big Bang theory, the event is thought to have happened about 13.8 billion years ago, making the universe 13.8 billion years old. Through complex calculations, scientists have determined that approximately 436 quadrillion seconds have passed since then. While it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact second, this calculation gives us a fascinating perspective on time’s passage.
Although 436 quadrillion may sound huge, it’s still not as big as the number of insects or sand grains on Earth—numbers I’ve explored in previous discussions. This revelation is quite surprising, considering we're talking about the number of seconds since the Big Bang. But, as you'll see, the numbers only continue to grow from here.
6. Stars in the Universe
Previously, I shared the vast number of stars in the Milky Way. While that figure is astonishing, the observable universe contains over 200 billion galaxies, which means the total number of stars in the universe is truly mind-boggling.
The observable universe is home to around one septillion stars, a number written as 1 followed by 24 zeros (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). To help understand just how much larger this number is compared to the seconds that have passed since the Big Bang, consider this: if you subtract 436 quadrillion (the number of seconds since the Big Bang) from one septillion, you get 999 sextillion, or 999,999,563,882,923,400,000,000. This shows how many more seconds would be needed to match the number of stars in the universe.
If we divide that vast number by 60 to convert seconds into minutes, then by 60 again to turn minutes into hours, followed by 24 to change hours into days, and finally by 365 to convert days into years, the result is 31 quadrillion years, or 31,709,778,154,582,806 years. This is how long it would take for the number of seconds since the Big Bang to match the number of stars in the universe.
In simple terms, we have an incredibly long wait ahead of us before the number of seconds since the Big Bang equals the number of stars in the universe.
5. Atoms in One Human
Did you know that the number of atoms in a single human body exceeds the total number of stars in the observable universe? As I mentioned, there are roughly one septillion stars in the universe. In comparison, the number of atoms in one human is estimated to be around 10 octillion—imagine a 1 followed by 27 zeros!
To put things into perspective, the number of cells in a single human body is estimated to be around 30 to 40 trillion. If we multiply that by the current global population of eight billion people, assuming everyone has 40 trillion cells, the total comes out to 320 sextillion human cells on Earth (3.2 x 10^23). This is small compared to the one octillion atoms in a single person!
4. Number of Bacteria on Earth
Bacteria are everywhere—on your skin, in your mouth, on your phone, and even on the toilet seat. Almost anything you encounter in daily life is home to bacteria. It's amazing to think that life as we know it evolved from bacteria-like organisms. But did you know how many bacteria currently inhabit the Earth? Brace yourself, it's an enormous number!
The number of bacteria on Earth is around 5 x 10^30, also known as five nonillion. This figure is incredibly massive, far surpassing the number of atoms in your body by a factor of 5,000!
Bacteria are the oldest living organisms we've ever known, and their sheer numbers are staggering, especially when you realize how invisible they are to the naked eye. Though you can't see them, they are all around you as you read this.
3. Rubik’s Cubes
Many people have heard of the staggering number of possible configurations for a Rubik's cube. To put it simply, there are 43 quintillion ways to arrange a standard 3x3x3 Rubik's cube. But that's not all—there are Rubik’s cubes with even more pieces, and some of them are so complex, they’ll leave any mathematician scrambling for cover!
A standard Rubik’s cube is a 3x3x3 puzzle, with three pieces along the x, y, and z axes. But if you’re looking for a challenge, you can find 4x4x4 cubes, 5x5x5 cubes, and even cubes all the way up to 12x12x12. With each increase in size, the number of possible arrangements grows exponentially, reaching numbers that are hard to comprehend.
For example, a 7x7x7 Rubik’s cube can be arranged in 1.9 x 10^174 different ways. That’s a 1 followed by 174 digits! This number is the largest one covered in this article. It surpasses the number of ways to arrange a deck of cards, the number of atoms in the universe, and even the number of possible chess games. In fact, it’s bigger than all of these combined and then multiplied by 19 undecillion!
The largest Rubik’s cube ever made is a 33x33x33 version, and it has an astronomical number of possible configurations: 10^4,094. This is a 1 followed by 4,094 zeros! It’s beyond comprehension, and no comparison can truly capture how insanely large this number is. It’s by far the largest number in this article, and if the goal was to find the biggest number, this one wins, hands down.
2. Atoms in the Universe vs. Chess
As you might expect, the total number of atoms in the universe is mind-bogglingly large. The figure is roughly between 10 and 10, which translates to a 1 followed by around 80 zeros. It's easy to understand that such a massive number arises from the fact that atoms make up everything—from distant space rocks to stars, planets, and all life forms living on them. But here's the astonishing part: when it comes to chess, this number is actually small in comparison!
If played properly, chess offers a remarkable number of possible piece arrangements, estimated at 10. It's certainly a massive figure. But when you throw out the rules and let the pieces move however they wish, the possibilities skyrocket to 10, or a 1 followed by an incredible 123 zeros! This figure is so enormous it dwarfs anything we've talked about so far.
To arrive at this extraordinary number, you'd start by multiplying the total number of atoms in the universe (about 10) by 10 tredecillion—a number that is already far beyond the combined quantity of stars, seconds since the Big Bang, and atoms in a human body. After crunching these numbers, the only fitting way to conclude is with a decisive Checkmate.
1. The Card Deck Number
An ordinary deck of cards contains 52 cards. Naturally, when you shuffle them, you're attempting to mix up the order. But did you know the number of possible ways you can rearrange a 52-card deck is so staggering that it makes the total number of bacteria on Earth seem like zero?
That number is 52!
No, I'm not expressing frustration. In mathematics, 52 with an exclamation mark indicates 52 factorial, or 52!, which means we calculate 52 x 51 x 50 x 49… all the way down to 1. Each time we multiply, the result grows exponentially, and the final answer is 8 x 10, or 80 unvigintillion. To visualize this, imagine an 8 followed by 67 zeros. That's the number of different ways a 52-card deck can be shuffled.
This number is so unfathomably vast that the arrangement you get from shuffling a deck of cards has never been seen before in history and will never be replicated again.
To examine every possible combination, one decillion people would need to shuffle a deck once every millisecond for 2.5 septillion years, or 2,557,653,956,460,676,007,472,749 years to be exact. It's safe to assume that humanity won't last for 2.5 septillion years, and there will never be one decillion people in existence. So, sadly, we will never witness every possible card combination.
