Question

Physicists estimate that there are between 10^78 and 10^82 atoms in the universe. How do these two numbers compare with one another? If the larger number is right, how many universes with the smaller number of atoms would fit inside the larger universe?

Answer 1

These two values show the range of maximum and the minimum possible approximation of the amount of atoms in the universe.

10000 of the small universe will fit into the big universe.

Explanation:

These values are a representative of the possible number of atoms in the universe. They both give a range of possible numbers, within which the number of atoms in the universe can be assigned a a particular value. The range is used to indicate that the value cannot be be exactly determined to be a particular exact number.

The two numbers given are

10^82, and 10^78

If the the larger number of 10^82 is correct, we'll have

10^82 ÷ 10^78

==> 10^(82 -78) = 10000 of the small universe will fit into the larger universe.