What If Earth Were the Size of A Schoolroom Globe?

What if the Earth were the size of a schoolroom globe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly learn about distances the Moon, Mars, and the space billionaire missions are relative to Earth’s surface. How thick is its atmosphere as compared to its rocky volume? When does space start?
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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
#StarTalk #neildegrassetyson
00:00 - Earth the Size of a Schoolroom Globe
00:22 - Where Would the Moon Go?
1:55 - Where Would Mars Go?
2:56 - Where is the ISS?
3:38 - How High Did the Billionaires go?
4:21 - Where Does Space Start?
5:43 - Earth’s Mountains
6:30 - Closing: Fun with Globes

[@StarTalk]

What was your biggest takeaway from this Explainer?

[@moonshoes11]

“Neiled it”.

[@ANS_11419]

The atmosphere is to earth is the peel of an apple to the apple loved that analogy

[@aoifedeborha2420]

That none of us can truly grasp how enormous the scales of the universe are - this puts it into perspective, though, and gives some insight into how large the distances really are, and how much we still have to go

[@manslaughterinc.9135]

The new intro animation is slick.

[@runristaren]

That the globe I have at home is accurate. Totally smooth!

[@desmondd1984]

Chuck is getting so good at this.

[@lakshya56481]

Exactly my first thought when he calculated Mars distance so accurately

[@josepht5331]

That’s been the best part about this startalk journey. Especially for those who have been here since the beginning. I’ve felt like I’ve learned with Chuck and seeing both of our growth in the field of astrophysics is really encouraging that learning about these pretty complex concepts is possible for everyone if u just have the curiosity and a great teacher like Neil to explain it.! My absolute favorite KZbin channel

[@Tango_Mike]

Man, I feel like that kid that joined class late but still manages keep up because the teacher makes everything so simple to understand.

[@FirebirdPrince]

He's a good representation how I feel listening to these scientists now. Good enough to guess the distance of the planets but still have the questions the average person would want to know

[@sunny_senpai]

he heard that from Neil many times now

[@MzCookiezfourtwnty]

" You Neil'd It" - Should Be OnA Shirt 👕

[@scottpayne4756]

Just “Neil’d It.”

[@Hecata_Harbinger]

I'd buy that shirt.

[@ArgeLee]

Neiled it

[@basselkabbani8699]

Clever lol

[@theduece82]

I was thinking same thing and I will use it colloquially

[@matrix2030x]

Neil does a great job making physics/astronomy fun

[@ResetAll-ni4dp]

Science has been in great development in the last century. Religion and science support each other. Islam values ​​science. The existence of the world is in a great order. The formation of day and night, seasons, the continuous growth of space, and the fact that each planet is beautiful and magnificent in its own way shows the greatness of Allah. It is Allah who creates this from nothing. He created it to serve people so that we can be thankful

[@kunaldhamiwal6717]

Your pfp, my oh my

[@matrix2030x]

@@kunaldhamiwal6717 lol..someone used AI to create an image of a person at the met gala..for some reason i liked it 🤣🤣

[@RoyPeters1]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂​@@matrix2030x

[@cleverusername9369]

I just looked on Google Earth, Chuck really did nail it, the American Museum of Natural History is EXACTLY 1 mile from the middle of the Hudson River.

[@shimmyhendrix4968]

*neil it

[@jonnyboy8143]

Why you say Americans , there's people way before white.

[@genem2768]

@@jonnyboy8143 It's a museum of natural history that's in America, therefore it's referred to as American. Natural history is about all living organisms in their natural environment. It isn't centered on people at all.

[@michael1]

@@jonnyboy8143 People are white because of poor diets and low sunshine leads to vitamin D deficiency which means in ancient populations fairer skin was a survival advantage (less so today because we fortify most grains and flours so although we tend to be vit d deficient the further North we are it's not to same degree as in the past) There are not 'white people' and 'black people' as 2 separate races. It's all people from Africa who populated the world. White people are black people. Everyone in America is an African-American. The ones whose skin got fairer and avoided rickets and other developmental disorders also learnt to create bricks and built a museum. Get over it.

[@michaelmauch7914]

That WAS a really good guess 😱

[@kwellerfolds]

My biggest takeaway is... give these guys a bigger studio and space for guests!

[@crystaltigress]

@@blaze3998 BURN!

[@brandonb1712]

They would if needed.. you say give as if there is bosses or something above them for the show.. they do this themselves, between neil and chuck, that's it.. they may have a camera/editing guy, but it's a podcast so no need for much more than what they already have.. I think he prefers it this way, since it's in his office.. cheaper and they only have 1 guest at a time usually

[@ToniSkit]

It’s his office

[@ResetAll-ni4dp]

Science has been in great development in the last century. Religion and science support each other. Islam values ​​science. The existence of the world is in a great order. The formation of day and night, seasons, the continuous growth of space, and the fact that each planet is beautiful and magnificent in its own way shows the greatness of Allah. It is Allah who creates this from nothing. He created it to serve people so that we can be thankful

[@airixxxx]

The space they have now is small and cozy, feels like the audience is in there too. A big studio would change that.

[@Heraclitean]

The scale at which you can sort of begin to grasp the size of the universe - if you make the Sun a golf ball, the known universe fits inside the Oort cloud. The Milky Way fits easily within Mercury's orbit around the Sun. Local galactic group fits within Saturn's orbit. Etc.

[@PeterSedesse]

My favorite one. If you consider the distance to Alpha Centauri.. and convert it down and make it 200 miles. The distance a human being has traveled, to the moon, ends up equaling 3 inches. Out of a 200 mile journey, we have gone 3 inches. This one really makes you want to fight to save this planet rather than sit back and assume we will be able to move to another planet.

[@fromnorway643]

It's even worse than that! If the distance to the Moon is 7.5 cm or 3 inches, the distance to Alpha Centauri is 8000 km or nearly 5000 miles.

[@farlesbarkley1022]

Fortunately nobody assumes we will be able to move to another planet. I, hope

[@kriyatelikriyateli4534]

YOUR STARTALK SHOULD BE PLAYED/SHOWN IN EVERY ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOL AROUND THE WORLD SO PEOPLE WILL BE AWARE OF HOW FRAGILE OUR PLANET IS. THANK YOU FOR SHARING🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@mxb2432]

You are so right! There should be more science talks given to the youth! But it is life that is fragile. Earth had MULTIPLE ice ages and warmup periods AND COULDN'T CARE LESS! It is the life on it that is sooo fragile and has to adapt to its changes!

[@randypruden9104]

brilliant, every science class should open with a 10 min startalk clip, there would be new alot more scientists in the world

[@cleverusername9369]

Only elementary and high school? Why not middle school?

[@ericreid8111]

I wouldnt call the planet "fragile", but point taken

[@iFREDDYx22]

Bill Nye

[@gmo2932]

It’s so cool to seeing you guys in the same room (non zoom episodes).

[@Charzhino]

I wish Neil would have asked them to guess the distance of the nearest star, that would have totally blown their minds

[@Nefville]

So to try and make that easier to understand, if the distance from the Earth to the moon is 30ft than the distance to Proxima Centauri (the system) would be over 3 billion miles away. I honestly didn't believe the answer when I got it so I asked ChatGPT and it confirmed my math. That is INSANE.

[@Charzhino]

@@Nefville thats so crazy. Cant even comphrend the distance

[@themusicbook8679]

@@Nefville Here's one I had fun with the other day, was using ChatGPT actually. I wondered what our fastest achieved speed in space is and at that speed, how long would it take to get from Earth to the Center of the galaxy. Even if you kept full speed the entire distance, it is astounding to ponder how far we really are. Hint: Parker Solar Probe. Have fun :D

[@jayeff6712]

@@themusicbook8679 A .352777 mm fits into 1392700 km about 3,9478×10¹² times, right? And then I divide the distance to Proxima Centauri by those 3,9478×10¹² and I get 10 times as much. Who did it wrong?

[@zemoxian]

@@Nefville I think that’s around the distance to Neptune. Kinda hard to visualize. We’d need to figure out how far the model Neptune is first then use that to figure out where Proxima is.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

My favorite explanation for how close "space" is is: If you live in Seattle, you're closer to space than you are to Portland or Vancouver. If you live in New York, you're closer to space than to Boston or DC. If you live in Atlanta, Raleigh, NC, San Antonio, TX, Sacramento, CA, you you're closer to space than you are to the ocean. (Never mind Denver!)

[@Bratfalken]

And that is the atmosphere we are destroying, knowing how thin it is makes a difference in understanding the need for change.

[@pedroakjr2371]

that's amazing, even for a non-american with no clue of the distances you just said

[@MichaelRainey]

I'm in a small town in Arizona. I'm closer to space than I am to a real city.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

@@MichaelRainey I went to college in Prescott, I get you. (Back when Prescott was still truly small, and hadn’t merged with PV and Chino Valley yet.)

[@crisscrossam]

now i wish this episode was longer and not only would we talk distances, but we would also talk sizes. like for example how large would the sun be compared to the schoolroom globe. we know that a million earths could fit in the sun but i wonder how that translates to scale, like the sun at the scale of a schoolroom globe would be like... a 4 story building 5 blocks away? im just coming up with numbers i didn't do any maths.

[@richardfurness7556]

Not a bad estimate. The diameter of the Sun is roughly 109 times bigger than that of the Earth. If we assume that the globe Neil showed us was about the size of a basketball (diameter 24 cm) then a model of the Sun on the same scale would have a diameter of 26 metres so that's how high it would be, maybe 6-8 storeys. As for how far away it would be, the Sun is twice as far away from us as Mars, which gives an answer of 2 miles. I'm from the UK where we don't usually think in terms of blocks, but from what I can tell that's rather more than 5.

[@crisscrossam]

@@richardfurness7556 yow thanks for the maths, that's awesome! And wow that's insane that the sun isn't THAT far away when you put it like that (being twice as far as mars) but it's waaaay larger.

[@milosstojanovic4623]

​​@@crisscrossam thats simple if we know relation between 2 objects. Just reduce everything by the number you need. If for example moon is 300000km away, and this scale is 3000 times smaller, distance is also by that number closer.

[@JhonPereda]

Bill nye did it first! Anyone else remember the bill nye science guy segment where he scaled down the solar system and then biked across the country to illustrate the vast distances between our planets? It's one of my absolute favorite science lessons and I'll never forget it.

[@Sartfla]

But he didn't do it with earth scaled to a globe

[@ETERNALXGAMEPLAY]

Flat earthers listen up

[@2MANYWWWWWWWWWWWWS4U]

Well last episode Jana said gravity might not be real... soooooooo, flat Earth IS real? 😝

[@finaldestination813]

🤣🤣🤣😂

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

Won't matter, truth and common sense breaks whatever they use to think with.

[@hman2912]

Do you think there are any flat earthers watching this channel? Maybe some going through some kind of identity crisis

[@rainsfall4119]

they wouldn't believe in flat earth theory if they could listen in the first place lol

[@mrb2349]

3:33 that moment of realization was just excellent

[@Nilguiri]

I flew in Concorde twice in the 1980s. From 60,000 ft altitude, the sky above is a very dark purple colour. Not quite as dark as night time, but not far off.

[@fries3480]

Love to open youtube and first video i see is this starting my day off good

[@bobibest89]

6:50 Antarctica: Hey how about me??

[@JesseSauveandfamily]

These are always so fun and informative in such a short dialogue, great for breaks to ease the body and energize the mind. Thanks for all you do at star talk for our nation.

[@gw2macken757]

See ! This video I understood all the way through, finally. Thank you guys.

[@wabisabi6875]

Always fun times with you guys, thanks!

[@vibehighest]

like this message is Chuck is awesome

[@AnalogX64]

The production quality of these audio and video materials has significantly improved, and they now look amazing. The colour grading exudes a warm, soothing vibe that evokes nostalgic feelings of my teenage years in school.

[@JhoriRemington]

More videos like this with metaphors and analogies! Such an interesting topic

[@phoenixrio9273]

It was awesome seeing Neil speak today at the Kean graduation ceremony at the Prudential Center!! My brother got his Bachelor's!

[@MountainPearls]

I’d be ecstatic to get a globe that doesn’t have the USSR on it in my classroom. I love comparing sizes of continents and countries on maps to actual size and discussing the ethnic/socio influences on said sizes compared to other in my class…it is a great cross curricular lesson. Math, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts, and Language Arts can easily be included in a unit on the Earth and Atmosphere, maps, etc. (When I could get the other middle grade teachers onboard). For instance, discussions of Africa’s actual size compared to it on most current maps and globes due to colonialism’s influence pairs well with “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebee for Literature. As does the different atmospheric layers and sizes and distances in Earth Science. Add to that, space junk, ozone layer, etc. (My dad was an environmentalist so he would come in and speak). Correction: Well *would* have. I’m a once and MAYBE future teacher here. Burnt out…going back would greatly depend on the school and educational philosophy…I hate we separate “subjects” so much. That isn’t how life works. I used to show this podcast/COSMOS in my class until a holy roller nut job parent-the reasons I quit in general-complained. (They were the main reason I left the profession, not the kids).

[@TORO2036]

Wow! I really enjoy this show a lot, and I did not realize until I heard Chuck mention that you're on the Upper West Side on Manhattan. I am too! Knowing you wonderful people are so close makes home a better place. Sincerely! Thanks for everything you guys do.

[@AlexB-vt5xe]

really interesting vid, thanks

[@mryenn5817]

Here's the good news, if we all keep watching StarTalk we'll be as good as Chuck 😃

[@angeloavanti2538]

Great way to dispel perceptions. Fun too.

[@user-et1ht9fx2k]

The handful of nanogenarian moon walkers to ISS staff: Yeah sure kids, of course you are in 'space'

[@faisaltariq_artist]

You guys are so much fun to hear ❤

[@TheViper4Life]

I love that they're all back in the office again, in the same room. I know they had to do the whole Zoom call thing for the Pandemic, but it lasted for a long time after that, so it's nice to see this format back for Startalk.

[@eo4zoa]

Loved this episode ❤

[@helloxonsfan]

Another great episode...!!! 👍🏽

[@Andy-jd2un]

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@nixazizu]

he is right about one thing '' we never visited space''. Moon we should not talk about it cuz it's a fairy tail

[@mariusmacas380]

It was interesting and fun to watch. Thank you

[@Mwolves25]

Thanks for coming out to Cleveland!!

[@maewest4192]

Good lesson🙏🙏🙏

[@sapelesteve]

Those scale comparisons were very interesting and informative Neil, well done! 👍👍🌎🌎

[@Kim_Miller]

Here in Australia we're glad you didn't mention New Zealand being in the Southern Hemisphere. Because, well, you know, New Zealand.

[@billymetcalfe7698]

Thanks for this explainer, was essentially an answer to my Patreon question 😊

[@kardush]

I love scaled Solar System models. There is one in Melbourne, Australia scaled down 1 to 1 billion. So, in the St Kilda beach promenade, the Solar system spans for 5.9 km (3.67 miles) from the Sun to (yes) Pluto. And it even has the Proxima Centauri star 40,000 km away in the same direction.

[@laurieloudamy1846]

Loved this!

[@bluedreamer1941]

Love it❤. Thank you.

[@patmcc7758]

Very informative, and entertaining.

[@gabriellafox7948]

🇨🇦Just found your content and love it!❤️

[@5ebra1]

You need to do the relative distances of the sun and the other planets from Earth. Maybe even the nearest star. That is truly mind blowing

[@ogelsmogel]

Love to see the three of you together!

[@peggysue457]

super fun episode

[@ghosttheoremproductions5469]

Best explanation of the earths "smoothness to scale" I've heard ---> If the earth were the size of a billiard ball it would be smoother than a billiard ball.

[@DirtbagM]

Happy to see Gary around you guys! This team is great and I wish everyone interested in science watch you guys at least once. Thank you @Startalk

[@camilleespinas2898]

Loved the visual

[@pedroaboffa]

THANK YOU

[@fishstix4209]

People call the police the thin blue line when, in all reality, the true thin blue line is the atmosphere that makes life possible.

[@gradientcube]

Lol

[@fishstix4209]

@gradientcube nice first comment on the channel from a new troll account. I'm guessing you have a thin blue line police flag a police officer in the family....

[@gradientcube]

@@fishstix4209 what? I've been on this site for a while and I don't like thin blue line people either

[@fishstix4209]

@gradientcube Those were literally the first 2 comments you've made on this channel, and your profile even says it was made in March of 2023....

[@gradientcube]

@@fishstix4209 is a year not a long time? I've had other accounts too.. why are you so offended by "lol"? You've got to relax. Plus I only recently started watching this channel.

[@user-rm6xt7kx7e]

i like this new intro at 0:05

[@darthhodges]

Clarification. The distance between Earth and Mars varies depending where in their respective orbits they are. The maximum is more than twice the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The number given here is the minimum, which is the best time to travel between them. The distance between the Earth and the Sun at the scale used would be over 2 miles. And the Earth Mars max would be over 5 miles.

[@Mario-jw7kq]

Thank you Neil for Startalk my fellow stargazer ✨💫☄️✌️

[@Bull1the1Great]

Now that's an eye opener

[@garygemmell3488]

I learn something every time, Neil.

[@owenwilliams8146]

Love when Chuck is on the show he cracks me up 😂

[@achrace.profrichardachara]

Brilliant!

[@souverain1er]

Chuck is a scientist! Impressive intuition

[@HunterLynch333]

More please I love it. My dream would be to meet both of u. A ten minutes conversation and a picture to prove it happened lol my life would be complete. I'll do anything

[@dynasty108]

This is good stuff

[@jdjdl8660]

Brilliant. I'm subscribing

[@michaelallen2358]

I love 💖 Star talk❤.

[@charlesjean-paul355]

Interesting!!!

[@alfonta]

I remember this example you did with people on stage , great way to understand how small our planet

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

Neil and Chuck for 2024!

[@jmanke6057]

That be best choice but they are having to much fun to run in 2024

[@Darker_Void_Scientist]

Gary must be really into science to contribute so much to StarTalk. He just fits comfortably into the show. Why does Neil have Christmas lights behind him? Old recording?

[@jmanke6057]

Maybe he leaves lights up year round just to be festive?

[@krash_1]

Not Earth shattering but definitely mind numbing. One of my fave episodes!

[@stax6092]

I remember when Bill Nye did this experiment and he at least bicycled all the way to mars. Great way of depicting it.

[@Galactis1]

Even if Earth were the size of a school globe, everything like the solar system would still be stupendously far away. Even the nearest stars are stupendously far at that scale. I still love it

[@jimstuckey1148]

NEIL DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE!!!

[@torq6]

Imagine if the moon was really as close as Gary though, that would be craaaaaaazyyyyy!!!😮😮😮

[@artex98]

I did the math for a school globe with diameter 50 cm and 1 foot (30 cm): Mt Everest would rise 0,3 mm above surface on a 50 cm globe and 0,2 mm on a 30 cm globe which is the thickness of 3 resp. 2 sheets of copy paper. So Mt Everest would be like a pinpoint which you definitely could feel.

[@nbartlett6538]

Could you though? It sounds like you based your calculation on Everest's height above sea level rather than its prominence. Everest is surrounded by other very tall mountains so it doesn't actually stick out that much compared to its surrounding area.

[@JamesLaChance1]

​@@nbartlett6538​ In the video Neil says the mountains would be less than the depth of your fingerprint and uses that to say "you would never know they're there". With enough light you can clearly see your fingerprints and if you rub your fingertips together you can even feel enough roughness that you could differentiate between your fingertips and smooth skin easily. So even if you go with his math there are things to nitpick about it if you wanted to be nitpicky. I would put this channel about on the same level as recent Veratasium: great at getting the general public's perception of things much closer to reality but in that process of making videos for the general public you're going to generalize or skip over things that can be important as you get deeper and more technical into the subject.

[@gland1830]

Question. How crowded is the asteroid belt really?

[@milosstojanovic4623]

That was already answered. Its like milion kilometers of space between. So those what they show in movies is busted as not accurate representation.

[@jasonukred2452]

Free The Penguins: A revolutionary story of the rise of the penguin proletariat to form a (very) global south state capable of tackling the imperialist zoos in the north and aiding the captives with the resources for victory and safe passage home. PG13

[@thatdaywillcome...3387]

"Free the Penguins"...except for the King Penguins.🤣

[@brentbeacham9691]

This was fun

[@scribbler60]

This somewhat reminds me of the old film I saw in high school, 'Powers of Ten," made in 1977. Nine minutes long, give perspective on immense distances. Available on KZbin.

[@AlanPhillips-ms5wz]

I love this

[@DRaquascapes]

DEBATE TERRANCE HOWARD!!!!

[@xX_Gravity_Xx]

That would be an unrivaled disaster.

[@shysmy19]

That is like debating a homeless man . Terrence Howard should be in a psychiatric ward

[@mikemallon1065]

Howard’s talking points are almost entirely composed of nonsensical buzzwords making up a word salad intended to sound “sciency” to those not familiar or educated on the matter. The electric universe conspiracy he buys into has also been previously debunked as well. There wouldn’t be much interesting of the debate simply because there’s little substance to Howard’s points.

[@xX_Gravity_Xx]

@@mikemallon1065 Yeah. I've heard him speak. I'm not educated enough to have any idea if what he says is nonsense. And until people stop arguing about it, I can't know for sure, but it looks like it's exactly as you say. at least that was my initial impression, considering he was batsh** crazy long before he started talking about any of this.

[@VastardokKukiao]

Debating a wall would be more entertaining and useful tbh

[@zangcheye]

Another thing to consider is that the International Space Station is closer to the surface of the Earth than Los Angeles is to San Francisco by just under 100 miles. Take a line from LA to SF, stand it upright into the sky and the ISS is much closer than an afternoon drive from LA to the Golden Gate Bridge.

[@gulfy09]

Ya and it magically floats up in space

[@user-uy8xi8ub4i]

Love it💪❤

[@arniejeanyap]

iam so curious about whats outthere. iam so interested in science, but all the math that you are talking about, i really do not understand. But still, i love how you talk and explain about things, very informative. thank you 😊 love from the philippines ♥️

[@lytaylor1204]

My mind is seriously blown 🤯

[@rogertulk8607]

Well, that was fun!

[@thingonathinginathing]

I can't wait until you guys get into the Good Stuff 🛸👽

[@AB-ye7bw]

Very 👍 good!

[@xaaan8]

Chuck is so funny! 😂

[@trigonzobob]

Hey, I recently watched Terrence Tao's cosmic distance ladder lecture. If zi remember correctly the distance to the Moon ranges between 57 or 63 Earth radii.

[@DankoStojanovic]

Chuck Neiled it!

[@Vxrifiedjojo]

i’m not gon lie i used to mess with you neil but why you beefin with terrence howard bro a literal genius.

[@user-vq4gl1xy3e]

Neil I love your videos. That being said did you see the video debunking your video about lift?

[@artkid101.]

Learning more from startalk than I ever did in school

[@travisberg9031]

You NEED a full set of our solar system with the scale versions in the gravity ball that constantly rotates the Correct way (Venus is backwards and Uranus is on its side) and stays right side up. All EIGHT planets, our moon, and the sun. Can't remember the manufacturer, but Very cool. Jupiter next to Earth looks SO Cool...

[@jonasnylund6018]

In Stockholm we have the "Sweden solar system", a to scale model of the solar system where the earth is about the size of a school room globe. The Sun is represented by a spherical hockey arena, and the earth is at the Natural History Museum about 7km away. It's awesome, though too few people are aware of it. At this scale, the inner planets are inside the city, and the outer planets in the neighboring cities to the north