Friday, April 27, 2012

How Many Stars Would a Human Hair Block if Held 3 Feet From Your Eye?

Assume that the hair is 3 inches long and has a diameter of .0025 inches.



Assume that stars are evenly distributed and include stars that cannot be seen with the naked eye.



How Many Stars Would a Human Hair Block if Held 3 Feet From Your Eye?

I guess about 1E+16.



How Many Stars Would a Human Hair Block if Held 3 Feet From Your Eye?

Why did you not allow for light diffraction around the hair? It actually doesn't block much of anything. Report It



How Many Stars Would a Human Hair Block if Held 3 Feet From Your Eye?

You would need to make assumptions about the topology of space time to discuss this one fully. If far enough away, entire galaxies could be blocked by the hair. Ever heard of Olbers paradox? It relates to discussion of this question.



How Many Stars Would a Human Hair Block if Held 3 Feet From Your Eye?

Countless trillions of stars would be blocked. You would be blocking out an entire region of the universe. It may be an insignificant part of the whole, but still an enormous expanse.



How Many Stars Would a Human Hair Block if Held 3 Feet From Your Eye?

None. The hair would be out of focus, and it is narrower than the lense of your eye---much narrower compared to a telescope lens. To block a star, it would have to be wider than the lens.

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