[Make it Lady (OP)]

I've often read that if all the space around the molecules in the human body was removed the whole population of humans on the earth would fit into an area the size of a sugar cube. Is it a myth or is it true? I'd love to know because I like sugar cubes and I'd like to be part of a human one!

PS if you hit a sugar cube in a cupboard (or anywhere dark) you can sometimes see little blue sparks, which is really cool.

[LeeE]

That's heading towards Black Hole densities - IIRC, one of the old exotic comparison measures was that a tea-spoon of neutron-star matter would weigh the same as a battleship (~70,000 tons), so a sugar-cube sized lump of matter equivalent to the mass of humanity, being greater than just ~70,000 tons is approaching, but not quite reaching, BH densities.  Just for info, the Schwarzchild radius for the entire Earth is just over 9 mm, so if you were to include not just the population of the Earth, but the entire Earth itself, you'd be in the right ball-park for a typical sugar cube.

[Don_1]

PS if you hit a sugar cube in a cupboard (or anywhere dark) you can sometimes see little blue sparks, which is really cool.

Silly question, but why do you retreat into darkened places and commit acts of violence on sugar cubes?

[Make it Lady (OP)]

I just love to see excited things lose there energy Don!

[DoctorBeaver]

LeeE - it weighs a bit more than that. A sugar-cube sized piece of neutron star would weigh 100 million tons.

[Kryptid]

Triboluminescence.

I wonder what it would look like if you filled a blender with sugar cubes and turned it on in the dark? Would you get a spectacular light show?

[LeeE]

LeeE - it weighs a bit more than that. A sugar-cube sized piece of neutron star would weigh 100 million tons.

That's inflation(?) for you  []

[dentstudent]

LeeE - it weighs a bit more than that. A sugar-cube sized piece of neutron star would weigh 100 million tons.

That's inflation(?) for you  []

and would make a really good doorstop

[Ray hinton]

It baffles me how they know what a neutron star weighs, has anyone ever been and tested one ? it might surprise you all and weigh next to nothing,  [?]

[Don_1]

I'll nip off to the nearest neutron star with my bathroom scales to check that for you Ray.

[Make it Lady (OP)]

My husband always weighs things by holing them in his hand and shouting way-hay! Perhaps you could do that to get the right answer.

Seriously, I am pleased to find that the sugar cube thing is really true. I am also trying to get a long extension lead set up so that I can sit in my cupboard with my blender. I don't think it will work as you need to give the cube quite a wack to get any sparks.

[Ray hinton]

What does holing mean ? []

[neilep]

I've often read that if all the space around the molecules in the human body was removed the whole population of humans on the earth would fit into an area the size of a sugar cube. Is it a myth or is it true? I'd love to know because I like sugar cubes and I'd like to be part of a human one!

PS if you hit a sugar cube in a cupboard (or anywhere dark) you can sometimes see little blue sparks, which is really cool.

I do know that you are pretty much spot on, in that we are made up of mostly the gaps between the atoms, and that if you remove that space then there's not much left of us...or anything for that matter. Never heard that the entire world population could fit into a sugar cube........except....well....YES..Yes..of course !!...if there's no limit to the size of the sugar cube then you are absolutely correct !

As a firm believer in empirical study I held my breath and went for a walk to my nearest Neutron star. Fortunately my sat nav really helped, I just entered in Neutron stars within my locality.

Anyway, I scooped up a tea-spoon of neutron star goodness and took a chomp...hmmmm..it tastes like condensed milk !...it weighed  47 grams !...voila.

Glad I could help.

[Ray hinton]

47 Gram`s, jeeze how did you manage to pick it up ? it would have crippled a lesser man !

[Make it Lady (OP)]

Condensed milk eh! well we are in the milky way

[DoctorBeaver]

LeeE - it weighs a bit more than that. A sugar-cube sized piece of neutron star would weigh 100 million tons.

That's inflation(?) for you  []

and would make a really good doorstop

STUUUU-AAAAART! How the devil are you, dear boy?