{"id":24359,"date":"2023-02-22T19:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T18:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=135152"},"modified":"2023-02-22T20:35:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T19:35:28","slug":"stacked-on-top-of-each-other-how-tall-would-all-the-worlds-germs-and-bacteria-be","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/stacked-on-top-of-each-other-how-tall-would-all-the-worlds-germs-and-bacteria-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Stacked on top of each other, how tall would all the world\u2019s germs and bacteria be?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The answer will blow your mind. <\/p>

By Luis Villazon\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 22 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Between bacteria and archaea (another type of single-celled microbe), there are more than 1030 <\/sup>individual cells<\/a>. Although most are about one micrometre long (0.001mm), it\u2019s such a colossal number that laid end-to-end, they would stretch for 10 billion light-years!<\/p>\n

This bacterial thread would still be difficult to see, because one micrometre\u00a0is about 75 times thinner than a human hair. But if you\u00a0wrapped the thread around\u00a0the Milky Way<\/a>, it\u00a0would\u00a0encircle it\u00a0more than 20,000 times, creating a\u00a02cm-wide ribbon\u00a0that\u00a0might catch\u00a0enough\u00a0light to be visible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n

Statistics like this show just how bad we are at visualising large and small amounts. Ten billion light-years is an unfathomable\u00a0length, but if we packed all the bacteria into a cube (and it didn\u2019t\u00a0collapse\u00a0under its own weight) it would only be around 10km on each side, which seems much more manageable.<\/p>\n

In reality, up to 80 per cent of all the bacteria in the world<\/a> are found in biofilms\non rocks, in the soil, on stagnant water and in virtually every other habitat, including your\u00a0mouth\u00a0and intestines. These biofilms are a few hundred bacteria thick<\/a> and can contain bacteria, archaea and fungi<\/a> of various species banding together\u00a0in\u00a0a kind of city.<\/p>\n

You can see biofilms whenever you clean your house. The red, black or brown slime<\/a> on your shower head, under the rim of the toilet\u00a0or on the draining rack on the kitchen sink are all bacterial biofilms,\u00a0each\u00a0consisting of\u00a0tens of millions of bacteria.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n