What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

$100
bill.jpg


A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

$10,000
packet.jpg


Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

$1,000,000 (one million dollars)
pile.jpg


While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

$100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars)
pallet.jpg


And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

$1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars)
pallet_x_10.jpg


Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

$1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars)

pallet_x_10000.jpg
 
Quote from QuikrRetirement:

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?


Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

$1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars)

pallet_x_10000.jpg

Now please multiply that by about 80 to see how much we owe in unfunded liabilities
 
Your illustration looks a bit misleading to me.

Here's my math -

$100 bill = .005 inch

$10,000 = .5 inch (not including the wrapper which would make a big difference)

1 million dollars (in hundreds) = 4.16 feet tall

1 billion dollars = 4167 feet tall

1 trillion dollars over 789 miles tall!

1 trillion dollars in 1 dollar bills - standing on edge - using nautical miles - would encircle the earth...over 3.5 times!




Quote from QuikrRetirement:

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

$100
bill.jpg


A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

$10,000
packet.jpg


Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

$1,000,000 (one million dollars)
pile.jpg


While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

$100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars)
pallet.jpg


And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

$1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars)
pallet_x_10.jpg


Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

$1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars)

pallet_x_10000.jpg
 
Quote from Sevenout:

Your illustration looks a bit misleading to me.

Here's my math -

$100 bill = .005 inch

$10,000 = .5 inch (not including the wrapper which would make a big difference)

1 million dollars (in hundreds) = 4.16 feet tall

1 billion dollars = 4167 feet tall

1 trillion dollars over 789 miles tall!

1 trillion dollars in 1 dollar bills - standing on edge - using nautical miles - would encircle the earth...over 3.5 times!

these are $100 bills. if you read from the top, you will get that.
 
Quote from QuikrRetirement:

these are $100 bills. if you read from the top, you will get that.


I get it, your pictures don't get it. A trillion is much much larger.
Look at the 1 million pic. If you stacked all those bills would it be over 4 feet tall?
Nope...I know its a fucking cartoon but the scale is misleading.
 
The volume of a single bill is around 2.61"x6.14"x.0043" = .0689 in^3, (dimensions according to the internets)

1 Trillion/100 x .0689 = 689092200 in^3 which is the total volume of all the bills

689092200 in^3 / 48 in = 14356087 in^2 is the area covered by a 4' high stack of bills.

Take the square root to find how many inches on each side a 4' high stack of bills would cover. Divide by 12 to find that a trillion dollars worth of 100 dollar bills stacked 4' high would cover an area 315' x 315'

This doesn't include the significant increase due to packing gaps, etc.

The OP seems pretty close.
 
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