I read somewhere when I was much, much younger that there is a 100% chance that there's an air molecule inside our lungs which was also exhaled by Roman emperor Julius Caesar on his dying breath.
How is that possible? Or is that just an urban legend?
How is that possible? Or is that just an urban legend?
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100% is never a probability.
However Julius Ceasear if julius caesar had breathed one litre of air in this breath it would contain approximately 1/22 of avagadros number of molecules. (6.0221415 × 10^23 /22.4 = 2.7 * 10 ^ 22 molecules )
If these were spread out through all the air on the earth then we could say that the earth was a shell of air perhaps 20Km thick around the whole earth. ( radius 6400 Km = 6.4 * 10 ^ 6 m)
Calculate the volume of this
4 Pi() R ^2 * h
= 4* PI() * (6.4 * 10^6) ^ 2 * 20000
= 10 ^ 19 m^3 which is equivalent to 10^22 litres.
On average this means that each breath would have 2.7 of Julius Caesars molecules in it.
Not quite a certainty though.
Perhaps every twenty breaths or so you WOULDN'T get one of his molecules.
However Julius Ceasear if julius caesar had breathed one litre of air in this breath it would contain approximately 1/22 of avagadros number of molecules. (6.0221415 × 10^23 /22.4 = 2.7 * 10 ^ 22 molecules )
If these were spread out through all the air on the earth then we could say that the earth was a shell of air perhaps 20Km thick around the whole earth. ( radius 6400 Km = 6.4 * 10 ^ 6 m)
Calculate the volume of this
4 Pi() R ^2 * h
= 4* PI() * (6.4 * 10^6) ^ 2 * 20000
= 10 ^ 19 m^3 which is equivalent to 10^22 litres.
On average this means that each breath would have 2.7 of Julius Caesars molecules in it.
Not quite a certainty though.
Perhaps every twenty breaths or so you WOULDN'T get one of his molecules.