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What's In a Breath?

You know what’s hard to wrap your mind around? The size of an atom.

If every atom in the air were a grain of sand, every breath you take would cover the United States in sand deep enough to hide an eight-story building. Plus you’d be dead because your lungs were full of sand.

That means that, on average, you just breathed in twenty atoms that have also graced my lungs, the lungs of Albert Einstein, the lungs of Genghis Khan, or even the lungs of Carl Sagan.

Bonus: Revisit this TED Ed animation on the size of an atom.

    • #science
    • #air
    • #atoms
    • #amazing facts
    • #sand
    • #that's a lot of air
  • 6 months ago
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I'm Joe Hanson, Ph.D. biologist and host/writer of PBS Digital Studios' It's Okay To Be Smart. Check out my "Episode Extras" here. There's a lot of amazing science out there. Let's go discover it together.

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