the US$ bill is 0.0043 inches thick
The US debt is different amounts, depending on just what you define as the national debt, but let's say it's somewhere around $10 trillion
That is 10^13 dollars. So, a stack of dollar bills would have a height of
4.3*10^-3 * 10^13 = 4.3*10^10 inches
That is about 678,662 miles
The moon is 238,900 miles away
So the stack of $1 bills would be 2.84 times as tall as the distance to the moon
Now you can work with the area. A $1 bill is 2.61 x 6.14 inches in size
So, figure the area and then think of other large areas.
I really need help with this focus problem I don’t know how to approach it.
Have you ever thought about the size of the US national debt? Have you ever pondered the literal size of weight of it? How large is the US national debt right now, and more important, how do you make sense of a number that large?
How high would the debt stack if it were represented with $1 bills? What if it were represented with the largest denomination in circulation today? How much area would the debt cover if it were represented with a single layer of $1 bills? Could you carpet the United States with its own debt? How much would the debt weigh if it were represented with $1 bills? What if it were represented with quarters?
Put each of your answers into perspective by comparing the answer to some common object. For example, you might consider the distance to the moon or the weight of the the Titanic.
How long would it take the country to pay off the national debt if everyone contributed at a certain rate? How does our national debt compare to the economy of another country? Use some international comparison to put it into perspective.
To understand the true size of the national debt, there are numerous factors to consider. How else could we investigate this situation?
3 answers
What if I were to use 23 trillion as the debt would it then be 23^13 dollars? But what does the 13 stand for ?
Also where did you get the 10^-3? What does the ^-3 stand for?