Why all the world’s coronavirus would fit in a can of cola – BBC News

Assuming a 50-nanometre radius (at the centre of the estimated range) of Sars-CoV-2, the volume of a single spherical virus particle works out to be 523,000 cubic nanometres.

Multiplying this very small volume by the very large number of particles we calculated earlier, and converting into meaningful units gives us a total volume of about 120 millilitres. If we wanted to put all these virus particles together in one place, then wed need to remember that spheres dont pack together perfectly.

If you think about the pyramid of oranges you might see at the grocery store, youll remember that a significant portion of the space it takes up is empty. In fact, the best you can do to minimise empty space is a configuration called "close sphere packing" in which empty space takes up about 26% of the total volume. This increases the totalgathered volumeof Sars-CoV-2 particles to about 160 millilitres easily small enough to fit inside about six shot glasses. Even taking the upper end of the diameter estimate and accounting for thesize of the spike proteinsall the Sars-CoV-2 still wouldnt fill a can of soda.

It turns out that the total volume of Sars-CoV-2 was between my wifes rough estimates of the teaspoon and the swimming pool. Its 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 of what would undoubtedly be the worst beverage in history.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that there would be two quintillion (2x10) virus particles in the world at any one time. The figure given was a typo and it should read 200 quadrillion (2x10). This did not affect the results of the calculation and has been corrected.

* Christian Yates is a senior lecturer in mathematical biology at the University of Bath and the author of The Maths of Life and Death.

This articleis adapted from a piece thatoriginally appearedon The Conversation, and is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

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Why all the world's coronavirus would fit in a can of cola - BBC News