# Stars and Sand **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149 "2010-07-18T20:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/21 "2010-07-20T13:37:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’m sorry if I confused the issue with my previous question. As noted, the OP asked about sand on the beaches. I was asking about all of the sand on the planet. But the answer from **Squink** that you referenced appears to be about how many sand-grain sized pieces the entire Earth could be broken up into, which is different again (and by several orders of magnitude, surely). By the way, **Measure for Measure** , I think you are forgetting that plenty of coastline is devoid of beach. My WAG is that that alone would be enough to cut your number by about half. Also, do you have any basis for that 64 cubic meters per meter assumption? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/22 "2010-07-20T13:49:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > In an infinite universe, shouldn’t there be infinite stars? Maybe, but the standard scientific view these days is that it isn’t infinite. Certainly the [observable universe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe) is not infinite. On the other hand, if you tried to add up up all the stars in an infinite universe, you might (apparently) discover that there was only , actually, [minus one twelfth](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=420045) of a star there. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/23 "2010-07-20T13:54:04Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > But the answer from **Squink** that you referenced appears to be about how many sand-grain sized pieces the entire Earth could be broken up into, which is different again (and by several orders of magnitude, surely). Yes. I took that to mean, ‘I don’t know the answer to your question, but theoretically if we turned the entire Earth into sand then this would be the upper limit of the number of grains.’ ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/24 "2010-07-20T14:09:20Z")
Yes, **Johnny** , it was an overestimate that no one would dispute being an overestimate. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/25 "2010-07-20T20:55:14Z")
But much of the substance of the Earth couldn’t be broken up into sand, or even sand-sized mineral fragments: the oceans and polar ice, for example, and the iron core would leave you with iron filings, not sand. (If you posed the question as “How many grains of sand would there be in an Earth-sized spheroid of sand…”) ---
**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:** [July 20, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/26 "2010-07-20T21:13:15Z")
All that means is that we can impose a much tighter upper bound. A figure like **Squink** gave is intended to start the conversation, not to end it. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/27 "2010-07-26T13:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=Douglas Adams] “It is known that there are an infinte number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely products of a deranged imagination.” [/QUOTE] At least that’s the way I like to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/28 "2010-07-26T15:41:37Z")
“Like sands through the hourglass… so are the _Days of Our Lives_.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149/29 "2010-07-26T16:52:17Z")
[Days of our Lives aired its 10,000th episode on February 21, 2005](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_our_Lives), so there are definitely more stars than episodes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-and-sand/547149.md?page=1)