Here’s What a Googol-to-One Gear Ratio Looks Like

This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

To celebrate being alive for a billion seconds, Daniel Bruin built a machine with 100 gears with a 10-to-1 gear ratio…meaning that the overall gear ratio is a googol-to-one. (A googol is 1 with 100 zeros.)

To turn the last gear in this train one full revolution, you’d need to turn the first gear 10,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000 times.

By my estimation, that’s enough gearing to allow you to winch the entire solar system, by hand, with ease. Assuming you can find a tow hitch on it somewhere.

0 comments

    Reply here

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Reply on your own site

    Reply by email

    I'd love to hear what you think. Send an email to b16844@danq.me; be sure to let me know if you're happy for your comment to appear on the Web!