# If the entire known universe were the size of the earth... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142 "2017-06-16T20:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/1 "2017-06-16T20:48:04Z")
How big would the earth be in it. The size of an atom? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/2 "2017-06-16T21:02:45Z")
Depends what you mean by the “entire known universe”. Wikipedia says the diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light years. Using that number, 93 billion light years divided by 8000 miles is 6.8 x 10[sup]19[/sup]. 8000 miles divided by that number is about 0.2 picometers. That’s about 10 to 100 times smaller than an atom, which is about 3 to 30 picometers. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/3 "2017-06-16T21:53:28Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > That’s about 10 to 100 times smaller than an atom, which is about 3 to 30 picometers. The smallest atom, Helium, is about 31 pm across. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/4 "2017-06-17T00:36:32Z")
Whoops, I was off by a factor of 10. I should have said an atom is 30 to 300 pm, and the scaled down earth is 100 to 1000 times smaller than that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/5 "2017-06-17T12:52:15Z")
Which makes the mini-Earth much larger than a single atomic nucleus (regardless of type), but much smaller than a single atom (regardless of type) including the “size” of the electron cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/6 "2017-06-17T13:11:06Z")
The Milky Way, on the other hand, would be surprisingly large - the disk being around 40 feet across. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/7 "2017-06-18T19:24:08Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The Milky Way, on the other hand, would be surprisingly large - the disk being around 40 feet across. I would be like a God Except for the 4 billion other now God-like people running around of course ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/8 "2017-06-18T19:36:18Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I would be like a God You’d be a very, very tiny sub-atomic god. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/9 "2017-06-18T19:49:54Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > You’d be a very, very tiny sub-atomic god. Wait, i dont get to retain my normal size? Now that’s a deal breaker that is ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/10 "2017-06-18T19:57:45Z")
And I’m wondering who the three billion non-godlike folk would be. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/11 "2017-06-18T20:21:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I’m wondering who the three billion non-godlike folk would be. You misread 😃 _Except for the 4 billion other **now** God-like people running around of course_ The other 3 billion are republicans Im kidding 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-known-universe-were-the-size-of-the-earth/789142/12 "2017-06-18T21:47:36Z")
There _were_ 3 billion other non-godlike people running around. [/reddawn]