About a Billion

 

  I was having a discussion with a friend recently and was throwing out billions to clinch my argument. I don’t remember what the discussion was about, but I do remember my friend saying, “You have no conception what a billion is.” He was right. What is a billion anyway?

  There's billions of stars in our galaxy.  For a long time we thought the Milky Way was the only galaxy there was. Because of earth's location in the Milky Way, it was hard to see other galaxies until about a hundred years ago when Edward Hubble proved there were more. Thanks to telescopes in space such as the Hubble, astronomers have found billions more galaxies. Enough so that everyone on earth could have at least 20 galaxies of their own. Twenty is a number I can relate to. Trouble is, there are billions of stars in each of those galaxies.

  Maybe I should try relating to a million before trying to understand a billion. A million is a thousand thousands which sounds more manageable until I realize I only know around six hundred people. That figure comes from studies of how many people the average American knows. Similar studies say we might recognize 5,000 faces, most of them nameless. Just to count to a million would take 11 days and 14 hours. That's going steadily with no breaks.

  The Guinness World Record for counting to a million is 89 days. I'm guessing it was done by a guy who had received a three month jail sentence and decided to do something of note during his confinement. Counting to a billion going steadily, would take 31.7 years. Wait, you could count to a million in just 11 days yet it would take 31 years to count to a billion? Do the math. A billion is a thousand millions. A billion seconds equal 11,573.66 days. Divide by a thousand and you get 11 days, 14 hours. Which was what?

  I think the Guinness people should hang around the courts and when someone gets a 35 year sentence, offer him some perks to start counting to a billion. Of course he's going to need breaks so if it takes 89 days to count to a million with breaks, it's going to take 243.56 years to count to a billion. That's almost seven 35 year sentences stretched end to end. Guinness's first collaborator would have to pass the count on to a new prisoner when his sentence was up or he dies.

  The 2268 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records will immortalize the names of the seven counters who set the record for counting to a billion. I now feel like I have a solid conception of what a billion is. Next time- Thirty-six Trillion: Understanding Our National Debt.

Galaxies available for adoption