Definition of the term billion

[bdewoody]

Which definition of this term is generally used in astronomy?<br /><br />1 billion = 1,000 million or 1,000,000 million <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[SpeedFreek]

Astronomers use 1000 million, or 10^9, but in general it actually depends where you live!<br /><br />Check out this wiki article for a more detailed explanation. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000">_______________________________________________<br /></font><font size="2"><em>SpeedFreek</em></font> </p> </div>

 

[rfoshaug]

Thanks for the link, speedfreek! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff9900">----------------------------------</font></p><p><font color="#ff9900">My minds have many opinions</font></p> </div>

 

[weeman]

Sure, we can define the number a billion, but can anyone actually grasp the size of this number?<br /><br />If you wanted to count to a billion, counting one number a second, it would take you nearly 32 years. That means anyone younger than about 31 1/2 years, hasn't even lived for a billion seconds! <br /><br />A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.<br />A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.<br /><br />This can now give us the true visualization of how f%@&ing huge the Universe really is! <br /><br />Take Saturn for example, at times Saturn is about a billion miles from Earth. That's just within our own solar system, and there's still two more planets after that! (3 more if ya count Pluto <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> )<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>