Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!emory!gatech!mcnc!duke!drh
From: drh@duke.cs.duke.edu (D. Richard Hipp)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Be Prepared...
Message-ID: <666620824@romeo.cs.duke.edu>
Date: 15 Feb 91 12:27:06 GMT
References: <1991Feb13.160718.25759@visix.com> <WOLFE.91Feb14104818@vw.ece.cmu.edu>
Organization: Duke University Computer Science Dept.; Durham, N.C.
Lines: 15

In article <WOLFE.91Feb14104818@vw.ece.cmu.edu> wolfe@vw.ece.cmu.edu (Andrew Wolfe) writes:
>
>Better yet;
>
>I have been told that it is estimated that 64-bits will address all of the
>subatomic particles in our universe.

Methinks you've been told wrong.  2**64 is approximately 2e19.  There are
about 6e23 atoms (30000 times 2**64) in a mole of any substance.  The earth
has a total volume of about 9e20 cubic meters (roughly 50 times 2**64).  A
2**64 byte memory system in which each bit was stored in a cell of one square
micron would fit inside a cube of less than 6 meters per side.

Perhaps you heard that 64 DIGITS would suffice to address every subatomic
particle...