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Covid

If true - this has blown my mind !

16 replies

RuthTopp · 15/11/2020 10:12

World's Covid almost fits on a TEASPOON: Total volume of coronavirus infecting more than 53million people is just 0.2 fl oz
Total volume of the 53m cases of disease worldwide is 8ml, teaspoon holds 6ml
TV mathematician Matt Parker came up with figure, saying virus particle is small
He estimates there are 3.3 million billion Covid-19 cells in the human population.

Disclaimer was taken from the Daily Mail, but it's a mad , crazy thought that we are all going through this for such a tiny volume of virus.
If any experts on here , could this be a true statement ?

OP posts:
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JaJaDingDong · 15/11/2020 10:27

Why does this surprise you?

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WitchesSpelleas · 15/11/2020 10:28

That is quite shocking!

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tropicalwaterdiver · 15/11/2020 10:30

It's math model based on some assumptions. It's difficult to judge if the total number of viruses assumption is realistic, but if yes, and the virus size/volume is more or less correct, then he just multiplied the numbers and got results.
However, its a still a math model as viruses don't exist like that in nature.

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Sitt · 15/11/2020 10:31

Well a lot of something very small is still very small

There are approximately 167,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water in a teaspoon. I’m not sure what you expected really

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RebeccaCloud9 · 15/11/2020 10:33

It makes sense when you actually think about it, but my goodness, it is a massively surprising fact when it is explained like that!

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FundamentallyFucked · 15/11/2020 10:34

Total volume of the 53m cases of disease worldwide is 8ml, teaspoon holds 6ml

Doesn't that mean it does not fit 🤷🏻‍♀️

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FundamentallyFucked · 15/11/2020 10:35

Ignore me I have just seen the word 'almost' in your post Blush

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AcornAutumn · 15/11/2020 10:36

Not surprising

And hence the masks = chain link fence analogy

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Toilenstripes · 15/11/2020 10:39

I think it’s fascinating that a great many powerful things happen in a world so small that it can’t be seen with the human eye.

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MostIneptThatEverStepped · 15/11/2020 10:50

What would it look like though? 🧐

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WiseUpJanetWeiss · 15/11/2020 11:24

@AcornAutumn

Not surprising

And hence the masks = chain link fence analogy

In the analogy, the virus needs to hitch a ride on something that’s around the size of a tennis ball, so most of them are stopped by the chain link fence.
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Cornettoninja · 15/11/2020 13:48

Disclaimer was taken from the Daily Mail, but it's a mad , crazy thought that we are all going through this for such a tiny volume of virus

It’ll blow your mind when you find out what happens when an atom gets split.

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MostIneptThatEverStepped · 15/11/2020 21:20

I need to know what a teaspoon full of virus would look like 😂

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psychomath · 16/11/2020 00:42

To actually put it all on a teaspoon you'd probably have to crystallise it first. Proteins (which a virus is made up of) are really hard to crystallise, so the individual crystals would be small and fragile - they would most likely be white, and look either like a powder or a shiny grainy substance like caster sugar.

The more you know, eh? Smile

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MostIneptThatEverStepped · 16/11/2020 11:42

@psychomath

It is very satisfying to know that, thank you!

Now don't go stirring it into your tea anyone...

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LeggyLinda · 16/11/2020 12:59

Hope they disposed of the teaspoon responsibly afterwards 😜

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