This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/news/515141-global-coronavirus-fits-soda-can/
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Soda pressing: All coronavirus particles in the world would fit inside a can, says British mathematician | Soda pressing: All coronavirus particles in the world would fit inside a can, says British mathematician |
| (7 months later) | |
| Bath University mathematician Kit Yates has made the rather fanta-stical claim that all of the coronavirus particles present in the world at any given moment would fit inside a soda can, with room to spare. | Bath University mathematician Kit Yates has made the rather fanta-stical claim that all of the coronavirus particles present in the world at any given moment would fit inside a soda can, with room to spare. |
| Factoring in global rates of infection, case numbers and estimations of viral load, Yates calculates that there are somewhere in the region of two quintillion, or two billion billion, SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in existence at any given moment. | Factoring in global rates of infection, case numbers and estimations of viral load, Yates calculates that there are somewhere in the region of two quintillion, or two billion billion, SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in existence at any given moment. |
| Yates’ calculations assumed a diameter of 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter, per SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. From this total, he derived the spherical volume, including the infamous spike proteins which make the pathogen such an implacable foe. | Yates’ calculations assumed a diameter of 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter, per SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. From this total, he derived the spherical volume, including the infamous spike proteins which make the pathogen such an implacable foe. |
| Accounting for all fizz-ical characteristics of the virus’ structure, and allowing for spacing between the virus particles, the total volume was still less than that of a 330ml soda can. | Accounting for all fizz-ical characteristics of the virus’ structure, and allowing for spacing between the virus particles, the total volume was still less than that of a 330ml soda can. |
| “It's astonishing to think that all the trouble, the disruption, the hardship and the loss of life that has resulted over the last year could constitute just a few mouthfuls,” Yates said, in a statement that was rather hard to swallow. | “It's astonishing to think that all the trouble, the disruption, the hardship and the loss of life that has resulted over the last year could constitute just a few mouthfuls,” Yates said, in a statement that was rather hard to swallow. |
| At least 2.34 million people have died due to the Covid-19 pandemic so far, with over 107 million confirmed cases worldwide. | At least 2.34 million people have died due to the Covid-19 pandemic so far, with over 107 million confirmed cases worldwide. |
| Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! | Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! |
| Dear readers and commenters, | |
| We have implemented a new engine for our comment section. We hope the transition goes smoothly for all of you. Unfortunately, the comments made before the change have been lost due to a technical problem. We are working on restoring them, and hoping to see you fill up the comment section with new ones. You should still be able to log in to comment using your social-media profiles, but if you signed up under an RT profile before, you are invited to create a new profile with the new commenting system. | |
| Sorry for the inconvenience, and looking forward to your future comments, | |
| RT Team. |