Genius by Stephen Hawking

HAWKING

WHAT IF THIS TINY GRAIN OF SAND REPRESENTS A SINGLE STAR IN THE MILKY WAY? AND ON THIS SPOON ARE 50,000 GRAINS OF SAND. SO THAT WOULD BE 50,000 STARS. USING THIS AS A STARTING POINT, CAN MY VOLUNTEERS TAKE A GUESS AT THE NUMBER OF STARS IN OUR GALAXY AND FIND A WAY TO VISUALIZE IT? A SPOON OF SAND. HMM. ALL RIGHT. THIS IS 50,000 STARS. WOW.

SIAN

AND IT FITS ON A SPOON. I KNOW. THAT'S CRAZY. THAT'S CRAZY. SO WHAT CAN WE DO FROM HERE? CAN YOU GUESS HOW MANY STARS WE HAVE IN THE GALAXY? UM, WELL, THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. YEAH. I KNOW THAT THERE ARE BILLIONS FOR SURE,

BUT I DON'T WANT TO SAY... WILL

BILLIONS? I'M THINKING A HUNDRED BILLION. I THINK I HEARD THAT SOMEWHERE.

WILL

ONE BILLION. IF WE TRY WITH THAT, IT WILL BE AN EASY FIGURE. ONE BILLION. I DON'T KNOW. I'M STILL...

LINDSAY

ONE BILLION? I THINK...

WILL

NO? YOU WANT MORE? OK. OK. SOME MORE. I'M LEANING TOWARDS BIGGER. BIGGER THAN 100 BILLION?

LINDSAY

YEAH. NO. I--I LIKE 100 BILLION, BUT I DON'T KNOW IF I LIKE ONE BILLION. I THINK IT'S SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 90 BILLION AND 100 BILLION.

SIAN

WHY DON'T WE WEIGH THIS AND FIND OUT HOW MUCH THIS WEIGHS AND THEN WE CAN SCALE UP TO THE 100 BILLION? THERE GOES ALL OF OUR STARS.

WILL

50,000 STARS WEIGHED... 70 GRAMS. 70 GRAMS.

SIAN

70 GRAMS.

LINDSAY

OK. SO LET'S DO THE MATH. 100. 140,000 KILOGRAMS.

SIAN

140,000 KILOGRAMS...

HAWKING

THEY'VE CORRECTLY CALCULATED THEY'LL NEED 140,000 KILOGRAMS OF SAND TO REPRESENT THEIR GUESS OF 100 BILLION STARS. THAT'S A LOT OF SAND. WHY DON'T WE WEIGH A BUCKET AND SEE HOW MANY BUCKETS WE NEED?

THAT SOUNDS GREAT. WILL

OK.