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This is tricky because, believe it or not, there are potentially as many atoms in a grain of sand as their are stars in the entire universe. But, here goes.
Sand is made up of Silica, which has the formula SiO2
silicon weighs 28 atomic units
Oxygen weighs 16 atomic units
so each SiO2 weighs 60 atomic units
There are 6.023 x 1023 atomic units in a gram. that is 6 with 23 zeros after it.
So there would be 6.023 x 1023 / 60 = 1x 1022 SiO2s in a gram, so 3 x 1022 atoms in a gram.
Say a grain of sand is 1mm across it has a volume of 0.001cm3;1cm3 of sand weighs about 2.6g, so a grain of sand will weigh 0.0026g.
So, to find the number of atoms in a grain of sand we multiply the number of atoms per gram by the number of grams:
3 x 1022 x 0.0026g = 7.8 x 1019 atoms
or
78,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Assuming you could count 2 atoms per second, it would take approximately 1,236,681,887,366 (1.2 Trillion) years.
Yes, really. If I were you I would try counting at least four every second, then it would only take 6.2 billion. You'd have a lot more free time.
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Judy
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ViviIt would take an extremely long time, possibly thousands of years, to count all the atoms in a single grain of sand given that a grain of sand contains trillions of atoms. Counting atoms in a grain of sand is practically impossible due to the sheer number and the limitations of our counting capabilities.
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How much does a grain of rice weigh?
A very rough approximation would be in the order of 1023 atoms, ie a 1 followed by 23 zeros, which is a very big number. Given that there are over 10^21 atoms in a large grain of sand, weighing 0.03g there will be a lot more (maybe x10 or x100) in a grain of rice (which is much larger than a grain of sand). Note that rice is organic so will have a lot of hydrogen atoms as well as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and many others in lesser degree. The previously stated answer of "30,000 atoms in one grain of rice" is absurd. Either the poster is testing how long it takes for an incorrect answer to be fixed or is quite ignorant of atomic dimensions (or both!).
How many copper atoms would have to line up side by side to form a line 1m long?
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If a typical grain of salt has a mass of 0.3 mg how many unit cells does it contain?
Assuming a grain of salt is sodium chloride (table salt) with a density of 2.16 g/cm^3, the volume of a grain of salt is 0.3 mg / 2.16 g/cm^3 = 0.139 mm^3. The volume of one unit cell of NaCl is 0.052 nm^3. Dividing the volume of the grain of salt by the volume of one unit cell gives approximately 2680 unit cells.
What is this substance in which the number of atoms is not important as long as all of the atoms are of the same type?
A substance where the actual number of atoms is not significant, as long as they are all of the same element, is called a chemical compound. This is because the properties of compounds are determined by the arrangement and types of atoms within the molecules, rather than their quantity.
The diameter of an helium atom is 100 pico meters how many helium atoms must be placed end to end to make chain of helium atoms one centimeters long?
To calculate the number of helium atoms needed to make a chain 1 cm long, divide the length of the chain (1 cm = 10,000 pm) by the diameter of a single helium atom (100 pm). So, 10,000 pm / 100 pm = 100 helium atoms. Therefore, 100 helium atoms placed end to end would make a chain 1 cm long.
