Wait, what?
A container packed with ping-pong balls can still be about 36% empty.
Spheres leave gaps. “Full” and “filled” aren’t quite the same thing.
Packing estimate
How certain is this?
Dense random packing of equal spheres leaves roughly 36% void space.
Keep going
- Wait, what?A gallon isn’t always a gallon.
- Bigger doesn't always mean tallerMauna Loa has at least about 75,000 km³ of volcanic material.
- Things in thingsAbout 1.3 million.
- Same amountOur Olympic-size pool reference equals about 5.3 million Starbucks Grandes.
- Same amountAbout 2.1 million 40-oz Stanley capacities equal our Olympic-size pool reference.
- Measurement trapAn “Olympic-size pool” doesn’t have one universal exact volume.