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The world’s Covid almost fits a SPOON: the total volume of coronavirus infecting more than 53 million people is just 0.2 fl oz
- The total volume of the 53 million cases of the disease worldwide is 8 ml, the teaspoon contains 6 ml
- TV mathematician Matt Parker came up with a figure, saying the virus particle is small
- It estimates there are 3.3 million billion Covid-19 cells in the human population
The total amount of Covid-19 infecting humans around the world would be in just over a teaspoon.
The microscopic size of the coronavirus means that while there have been more than 53 million cases of the disease worldwide, its total volume is a tiny 8ml, or 0.2 fluid ounces.
For comparison, one teaspoon contains 6 ml of liquid.
The total amount of Covid-19 infecting humans around the world would fit in at just over a teaspoon (stock image used)
TV mathematician Matt Parker has made several assumptions to come up with the figure, but says that even at the higher end of his estimates, all of the Covid virus on the planet would be in a shot.
“All the chaos in the world … is due to a teaspoon of trouble,” he said on his A Problem Squared podcast.
“A viral particle is very small, it’s just the code to destroy other cells.”
In fact, the Covid-19 virus is a million times smaller than a human cell.
Parker, a collaborator on Radio 4’s Infinite Monkey Cage science program, began with an estimate of the number of cells in each virus patient based on the viral load measured by swabs and research published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Using the figure of 300,000 new cases per day worldwide and assuming everyone was infected for 14 days, he calculated the number of people currently carrying the virus.
Covid-19 virus is a million times smaller than a human cell (image used)
Multiplying this, he estimates that there are 3.3 million billion Covid-19 cells in the human population.
Given their size, comparable to the wavelength of light, overall they take up very little space.
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