I calculate that if all the viral particles in my garden were arranged end-to-end they would reach to the Sun.
It's estimated that each cm3 of soil contains 1011 such particles, of multifarious kinds, some known to science, most not. A typical diameter for a virus particle is 10-7 m.
So the particles in each cm3 would stretch for 1011 x 10-7 m = 104 m = 10 km.
I estimate the volume of topsoil in my garden as a bit over 15 m3, and 1 m3 = 106 cm3.
That gives a distance of 15 x 106 x 10 km = 150 million km, the distance from here to the Sun.
My Viral Livestock
This surprises me!
I calculate that if all the viral particles in my garden were arranged end-to-end they would reach to the Sun.
It's estimated that each cm3 of soil contains 1011 such particles, of multifarious kinds, some known to science, most not. A typical diameter for a virus particle is 10-7 m.
So the particles in each cm3 would stretch for 1011 x 10-7 m = 104 m = 10 km.
I estimate the volume of topsoil in my garden as a bit over 15 m3, and 1 m3 = 106 cm3.
That gives a distance of 15 x 106 x 10 km = 150 million km, the distance from here to the Sun.