Just in case you haven't received this email: I was wondering this very same thing:
What does one TRILLION dollars look like?
Some clever person at this address got on Google Sketchup and figured it out. Now, if you get all the way to the bottom, and you think the results are suspect like I did, you can go here and double check His/her results:
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.
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.
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.
While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet…
And $1 BILLION dollars… now we're really getting somewhere…
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.
Ladies and gentlemen… I give you $1 trillion dollars…
(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)
So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"… that's what they're talking about.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thanks for shedding the light on exactly how a Trillion looks for I had no idea.