# How big is the sun (in Gallons)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 24, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312 "2009-09-24T00:45:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/1 "2009-09-24T00:45:06Z")
My son is a question asker.
Some of his latest include,
- What does butter do to power?
- What does power do to sharks?
- Are trees sometimes as big as a giant’s leg?
- How do you say SpeedRacer in Spanish?
But I can’t BS or Google today’s stumper. For Christmas I’m getting him a set of Encyclopedias, but in the meantime, can anyone take a crack at this one-
\*\*“How may gallons big is the sun?” \*\*
[SIZE=“2”]ps. SpeedRacer, in Spanish, is _Meteoro_. Thanks, Wikipedia![/SIZE]
---
### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/2 "2009-09-24T00:52:50Z")
From Wikipedia the diameter of the sun is 1.392 \* 10^9 meters that is 1.13 \* 10^28 cubic meters. Using google with the phase:
“1.13 \*10^28 cubic meters in gallons”
yields the result
1.13 \* (10^28) (cubic meters) = 2.98514419 × 10[sup]30[/sup] US gallons
google calculator rocks for units conversions.
---
### Author:  [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/3 "2009-09-24T00:56:17Z")
that was easy. Thanks!
ETA: though it begs a second question. How do I say that in numbers to my kindergartener?
---
### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/4 "2009-09-24T00:58:31Z")
Even easier:
> **[volume of the sun in gallons - Wolfram|Alpha](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=volume%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bsun%2Bin%2Bgallons)**
>
> Wolfram|Alpha brings expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels.
---
### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/5 "2009-09-24T00:59:38Z")
> [@prettydorky](#):
>
> that was easy. Thanks!
>
> ETA: though it begs a second question. How do I say that in numbers to my kindergartener?
About three million million million million million gallons.
---
### Author:  [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/6 "2009-09-24T01:00:08Z")
Well, the sun’s radius is reported by [NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/sun_worldbook.html) to be 695,500 km
Let’s assume the sun is a perfect sphere. (Not quite, but [very close](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Characteristics) says Wikipedia.)
The volume of a sphere is 4/3 \* pi \* r^3
so 1.40922E+18 km^3
Next, [Google](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=gallon+in+a+km%5E3&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=8688bf7c93574238) tells us there are 2.64172052 × 10^11 gallons in a cubic km
so we convert, and get something close to 3.72E+29 gallons.
---
### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/7 "2009-09-24T01:00:24Z")
> [@prettydorky](#):
>
> that was easy. Thanks!
>
> ETA: though it begs a second question. How do I say that in numbers to my kindergartener?
“a bajillion”
---
### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/8 "2009-09-24T01:02:41Z")
> [@prettydorky](#):
>
> - What does power do to sharks?
Apparently, sufficient quantities can repel them:
> **[Ampullae of Lorenzini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampullae_of_Lorenzini)**
>
> Ampullae of Lorenzini (sg.: ampulla) are electroreceptors, sense organs able to detect electric fields. They form a network of mucus-filled pores in the skin of cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) and of basal bony fishes such as reedfish, sturgeon, and lungfish. They are associated with and evolved from the mechanosensory lateral line organs of early vertebrates. Most bony fishes and terrestrial vertebrates have lost their ampullae of Lorenzini.
> Ampullae were initially described ...
---
### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/9 "2009-09-24T01:08:45Z")
My answer is wrong I used diameter when I should have used radius. I get 3.722 \*10^29 gallons now. Which agrees with the people who took more time to do things correctly instead of quickly.
---
### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/10 "2009-09-24T01:09:50Z")
> [@prettydorky](#):
>
> What does butter do to power?
This is a stretch but, butter is mostly animal fat, as is [myelin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelin). So one could say butter resists power.
On the other hand butter is saturated with hydrogen and therefore contains quite a lot of power.
---
### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/11 "2009-09-24T01:15:45Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> “a bajillion”
During the height of the second Gulf War Dick Cheney walked into the Oval Office to let the President know the day’s casualty report. The President took the news in stride until Cheney mentioned that they had lost 3 Brazilian troops to enemy fire. He just shook his head and asked, “Exactly how many is a brazilian?”
---
### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/12 "2009-09-24T01:30:59Z")
Really though, wouldn’t it be “372 octillion”?
---
### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/13 "2009-09-24T01:39:45Z")
To put it in kid terms:
An Olympic size swimming pool is about 660,000 gallons
There are about 6.8 billion people alive right now.
If each one had their own swimming pool, that would be 4.5 x 10^12 gallons.
If each person on the earth had 1 billion swimming pools that big, we’d be up to 4.5x10^21.
So you’d need 830 million Earths, with 6.8 billion people each, with 1 billion swimming pools for each person, holding 660,000 gallons in each pool.
---
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/14 "2009-09-24T01:53:48Z")
> [@dracoi](#):
>
> To put it in kid terms:
>
> An Olympic size swimming pool is about 660,000 gallons
> There are about 6.8 billion people alive right now.
> If each one had their own swimming pool, that would be 4.5 x 10^12 gallons.
> If each person on the earth had 1 billion swimming pools that big, we’d be up to 4.5x10^21.
>
> So you’d need 830 million Earths, with 6.8 billion people each, with 1 billion swimming pools for each person, holding 660,000 gallons in each pool.
I’m not paying for the pool heaters for _that_ scenario…
---
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/15 "2009-09-24T02:03:00Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#):
>
> Really though, wouldn’t it be “372 octillion”?
[Yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octillion)
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/16 "2009-09-24T02:57:40Z")
Wait, so, there’s actually a question that Wolfram Alpha is capable of answering? I thought that it was just a thesaurus-script with about fifteen different ways of phrasing “I don’t know”.
---
### Author:  [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/17 "2009-09-24T03:48:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Wait, so, there’s actually a question that Wolfram Alpha is capable of answering? I thought that it was just a thesaurus-script with about fifteen different ways of phrasing “I don’t know”.
I was amazed by that too. I got all excited about Alpha before it arrived and then was disappointed to find that it could never understand my questions and didn’t even do very well on the things listed under “A few things to try”.
---
### Author:  [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/18 "2009-09-24T03:58:51Z")
> [@cainxinth](#):
>
> Apparently, sufficient quantities can repel them:
>
> [Ampullae of Lorenzini - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampullae_of_Lorenzini)
Sharks are also attracted by power, as AT&T found out when they tested a prototype of the first fiber optic transatlantic cable. Within a month of deploying the prototype in the Azores, it failed with a “ground fault” (a short circuit to the ocean). They adjusted the voltage on the two ends to create a virtual ground, and it ran for another week or so and then failed with a second ground fault, which was unfixable. Then they hoisted the thing out of the ocean and found it was littered with shark teeth. Thus ensued the biggest secret of this multi billion dollar project. The story finally leaked, appeared in the NY Times one morning and that evening was part of Johnny Carson’s monologue.
The consultants from Wood’s Hole identified the species of shark from its teeth and concluded that the electric field from the voltage drop along the cable was attracting the sharks. They apparently thought it was food. Bell Labs ultimately developed FBP (you guessed it, Fish Bite Protected) cable and deployed that at the points where the cable went over the continental shelf into the deep ocean. This was the only portion that was vulnerable to that species of shark.
---
### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/19 "2009-09-24T04:13:01Z")
- What does butter do to power?
Increases its cholesterol and risk for heart disease? I don’t know. It sounds like nonsense.
- What does power do to sharks?
corrupts
- Are trees sometimes as big as a giant’s leg?
Sure (why the heck not?)
- How do you say SpeedRacer in Spanish?
[Meteoro…Va…Va…Va!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fTuQOIG2k8)
---
### Author:  [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312/20 "2009-09-24T04:16:07Z")
This should include two answers- One by weight, and one by volume. 😃
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-sun-in-gallons/511312.md?page=2)