MASS OF THE EARTH
 

The Earth, too, is massive, but it is a mere speck compared with the Sun. Expressed to four significant figures, the Earth masses 5.974 × 10²⁴ kg. This works out to approximately 6 hexillion metric tons. How large a number is 6 hexillion? Let’s use a similar three-dimensional analogy. Suppose that you have a cubical box measuring 2.45 × 10⁵ meters, or 245 kilometers, on an edge. This is a cube about 152 mi tall by 152 mi wide by 152 mi deep. Now imagine an endless supply of little cubes measuring 1 centimeter (1 cm) on an edge. This is about the size of a gambling die or a sugar cube. Now suppose that you are given the task of—you guessed it— stacking up all the little cubes in the huge box. When you are finished, you will have placed approximately 6 hexillion little cubes in the box. This is the number of metric tons in the mass of our planet Earth.