# If we converted ALL the world's currency into pennies, how many would we have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649 "2020-09-02T22:56:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/21 "2020-09-03T14:42:19Z")
But as the stack of pennies nears the asteroid belt it is just a matter of some mining, the resources are there for the taking. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/22 "2020-09-03T14:42:35Z")
I say we do an IPO for this while things are hot. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/23 "2020-09-03T15:02:16Z")
You would need to stack your pennies on one of the poles, or the end of it would be rotating way faster than the speed of light. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/24 "2020-09-03T15:08:48Z")
That was a guess. Turns out, it’s not quite as fast as the speed of light, but close. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/25 "2020-09-03T16:00:05Z")
Time machine, great, we should be able to hit up Musk or Branson for seed money. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/26 "2020-09-03T16:34:32Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Pennies are 3/4 of an inch across and circles have a packing efficiency of 0.9069, so it takes about 3508 of them to cover a square meter. The surface of land area on the earth is 510 trillion square meters, so 80 quadrillion pennies tightly packed would cover about 5% of the surface of the land on earth. If we could evenly distribute them, the measurable amount of good luck in the world would increase dramatically. Sure, if they’re all _shiny_. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/27 "2020-09-03T18:26:05Z")
Wait, do pennies have to be shiny to be lucky? I thought they just had to be heads up? Still, with 80 quadrillion pennies, nearly all of them will be newly minted, so they’ll be shiny. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/28 "2020-09-03T18:44:03Z")
So where is the weak point of the stack? At the base? At the atmosphere to space interface? The the end of the stack? This is not just a column but is basically a space elevator isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/29 "2020-09-03T20:21:40Z")
All of the above? Space elevators need to be absurdly strong for their weight. A pile of squat cylinders made mostly of zinc that’s not actually connected is none of those things. I’m fairly sure you won’t get more than a few feet before the imprecision in size will make the tower fall over. If you got tall enough for weight to matter, the bottom ones would deform and it would fall. If you somehow magicked it into existence out to Pluto or whatever it would tear itself apart in a dozen ways in a few moments. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/30 "2020-09-03T21:47:24Z")
Some dick will shotgun a beer and throw the can at it as soon as it’s 6 feet high. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/31 "2020-09-03T23:33:49Z")
And take an armload of them to buy more beer. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/32 "2020-09-04T00:27:47Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > You would need to stack your pennies on one of the poles, or the end of it would be rotating way faster than the speed of light. I was wondering if the stack of pennies would crush the penny at the bottom, but I guess not – we need someone to put their thumb on top to stop the top ones from spinning off. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/33 "2020-09-04T00:58:35Z")
Fun thread. What if we started stacking them in low earth orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/34 "2020-09-04T14:10:58Z")
You first. Send pics. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649/35 "2020-09-04T14:20:09Z")
Something like this only we do away with the earth to space station portion. We would essentially be build a cable the diameter of a penny. How far could it go in into space before it failed and what would be the failure method? But alas, I’m thinking that a zinc cable wouldn’t be very strong but could go a couple of miles. But since we have all the money in the world tied up in this endeavor it could be done with today’s technology. [https://www.spacelegalissues.com/space-law-legal-aspects-of-the-space-elevator-transportation-system/](https://www.spacelegalissues.com/space-law-legal-aspects-of-the-space-elevator-transportation-system/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-converted-all-the-worlds-currency-into-pennies-how-many-would-we-have/919649.md?page=1)