IBM’s new supercomputer does one quadrillion operations per second (petaflop). I wanted to see that in scientific notation, so I punched "one quadrillion * 1 " into Google(1*10[sup]5[/sup] as it turns out). Everyone is fascinated by a googol, but did you know that (mostly quotes) …
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[li] There are one quadrillion Trans-Neptunian Objects[/li][li] That one million times one billion (one thousand times one trillion) is (you guessed it) 1,000,000,000,000,000[/li][li] A magnetar typically possesses a magnetic field more than one quadrillion times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field.[/li][li] At the sub atomic level it is well known the nucleus radius to electron orbital ratio is one hundred thousandth.That makes the volumetric or spatial difference one quadrillionth ( .000000000000001 ).[/li][li] The black hole farthest away from Earth is at the heart of a quasar known to astronomers as SDSS J1148+5251. The astronomers believe it weighs one quadrillion times the mass of Earth. [/li][li] The odds of four pro golfers scoring holes in one on the same hole, the same day, during a breathtaking span of one hour and 50 minutes is, to be precise, 1.89 quadrillion-to-1. Give or take a couple billion.[/li][li]The total market value of all the assets of this planet cannot exceed one quadrillion dollars. [/li][li]This relationship of Creative Force Vibrations reflecting back and forth between the Material and Spirit (antimatter) Universes creates Consciousness for mortal and and Material realms and records each momentary universe of each now moment upon the Akashic Screen of TIME. This pulsation rate causes the material universe of consciousness to appear and disappear from every 4.344 to 8.668 Quadrillionths of a second (approximately) upon the eternal now akashic screen of TIME. (Editor’s note: Uhhh???)[/li][li]Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1000000000000000) ants living on the earth at any given time.[/li][li] It is estimated that 500 to 1000 different species of bacteria live in the human body (Sears, 2005). Bacterial cells are much smaller than human cells, and there are about ten times as many bacteria as human cells in the body (1000 trillion (10^15)[/li][li] The human eye sees in wavelengths. The wavelengths are so short that they are expressed not in meters or millimeters, but in angstroms. One angstrom equals 1/10,000 of a micrometer (1/10,000,000,000 meter). The length in meters of visible light would be 0.0000000000076 kilometers to 0.0000000000038 kilometers, and represents oscillations just under a quadrillion per second.[/li][/ul]
Someone has about a quadrillion times too much time on their hands.
But what if ants become really popular someday and their price skyrockets up to $1.01? Hmmmm? What then?