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Paul7


Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Points: 452

This is why we need big powerful snowblowers
Original Message   Jan 21, 2011 1:28 am

Hans Verlinde is an associate professor of meteorology at Penn State University.  He is also the site scientist for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility in Barrow, Alaska.

After calculating, and recalculating, he arrived at an estimation of the number of snowflakes that would fall if 5 inches of snow blanketed the 2,000 square miles of Lancaster County, PA...which is the amount predicted to fall on the county tonight.

It is 5.2 quintillion snowflakes.

For the generalists, 5 quintillion is a 5 followed by 18 zeros.

For you sticklers, the actual number would be 5,179,976,221,000,000,000 snowflakes (rounded off to the nearest billion).

Just how much is 5.2 quintillion?

It's hard to find a good comparison, as the number is so vast, but here's a few that are close, give or take a few quintillion.  The world's insect population is estimated to be about 10 quintillion.  And your odds of filling out a perfect NCAA bracket in your office pool, if you guessed randomly, is one in 18.5 quintillion, according to the Dr. Math blog.


http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/340729

This message was modified Jan 21, 2011 by Paul7
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samdog


Joined: Feb 9, 2010
Points: 55

Re: This is why we need big powerful snowblowers
Reply #1   Jan 21, 2011 3:26 am
Oh great. I'm in Lancaster County. Now I have to recalculate my Toro's snow moving capacity from cubic feet per minute to quintillion flakes per.....what? ...nanoseconds?...fortnights?...lightyears? 
This message was modified Jan 21, 2011 by samdog
Steve_Cebu


Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 888

Re: This is why we need big powerful snowblowers
Reply #2   Jan 21, 2011 4:00 am
Now imagine picking all of them up one by one with a pair of tweezers.

"If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England."  "If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England."
edgenet


If you enjoy doing it, It's not work

Location: Toronto
Joined: Nov 27, 2010
Points: 84

Re: This is why we need big powerful snowblowers
Reply #3   Jan 21, 2011 11:23 am
AS they sa Bull S!!t bafles brains

If you are getting paid for what you are doing No matter how much you Enjoy it,   It's a Job
aa335


Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434

Re: This is why we need big powerful snowblowers
Reply #4   Jan 22, 2011 12:55 am
Paul7 wrote:

Hans Verlinde is an associate professor of meteorology at Penn State University.  He is also the site scientist for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility in Barrow, Alaska.

After calculating, and recalculating, he arrived at an estimation of the number of snowflakes that would fall if 5 inches of snow blanketed the 2,000 square miles of Lancaster County, PA...which is the amount predicted to fall on the county tonight.

It is 5.2 quintillion snowflakes.


I hope prof isn't figuring this out on a research grant.  Friggin waste of time and money.  Interesting, yes, but useless. 
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