Top > Physics & Chemistry Songs > Twenty-Tree Factors of Ten, and Then Some by Bill Franklin (21 Oct 99, revised 1 Feb 2000)
posted on 9:39 AM, July 8, 2010
Avagadro counted atoms, striving for his goal
He must have lost a lot of sleep before he reached a mole
Six point oh two, multiplied by ten, and ten again
Keep multiplying till it numbs you reeling from the strain.
More than all the bullets ever fired in sport or war
And more than all the grains of sand on every ocean shore
More than all the insects in the air and on the ground
And more than all the grass blades even though we mow them down.
More than all the raindrops falling in an entire year
And more than all the stars around us, those both far and near
If you think these numbers seem to be too big by far
Then figuring out how big they really are's a bit bizarre.
Surely Avagadro didn't really count that high
But who did find his number, then, and when, and how, and why?
Can a gram of hydrogen so many pieces be?
It takes a lot of atoms -- just to make a me.
He must have lost a lot of sleep before he reached a mole
Six point oh two, multiplied by ten, and ten again
Keep multiplying till it numbs you reeling from the strain.
More than all the bullets ever fired in sport or war
And more than all the grains of sand on every ocean shore
More than all the insects in the air and on the ground
And more than all the grass blades even though we mow them down.
More than all the raindrops falling in an entire year
And more than all the stars around us, those both far and near
If you think these numbers seem to be too big by far
Then figuring out how big they really are's a bit bizarre.
Surely Avagadro didn't really count that high
But who did find his number, then, and when, and how, and why?
Can a gram of hydrogen so many pieces be?
It takes a lot of atoms -- just to make a me.
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