From: Entropyfoe@aol.com
Date: Tue Aug 25 1998 - 21:11:16 MDT
Doug.Bailey@ey.com wrote...
>Researchers produce the first scientific estimate of the number
>of bacteria on Earth. The tally - 5 x 10^30 bacteria. Anyone know
>what the mass is of the average bacterium? That's such a huge number,
>I'm wondering how much biomass bacteria as a whole possess.
The size and shape of bacteria vary widely. But estimating roughly a micron
in average diameter, gives 1 e 12 per cubic centimeter. Approxamating their
density as that of water, an estimated weight for a bacteria of 1 e -12 gm is
obtained. So times 5 e 30 bacteria gives 5e18 gm . Give or take a couple
of orders of magnitude. This seems reasonable considering the CRC (60th ed
1979) gives a 1955 estimate of the mass of the living biosphere as 3.6 e 17
gm.
-Jay
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