Cubic Angels

Jim Jett (jett@lanl.gov)
Fri, 31 May 1996 09:03:38 -0600

I sent this to Bruce but there seems to be more universal interest than I
thought there would be. It is interesting to see how the estimates
converge from different points of view.

"Here is one answer from the proverbial back of the envelope. Assuming a
70 Kg person (not too bad a guess), whose density is 1 gm/cc (also a good
number), and that an average cell is a 10 micron cube (that one can be
argued about or refined but you do not have to remember the value of Pi or
the formula for the volume of a sphere) the number of cells in a person is
7x10e13."

Jim

James H. Jett, MS-M888
Director, National Flow Cytometry Resource
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545

Phone: 505/667-3843
FAX: 505/665-3024
email: jett@lanl.gov