Is there an easy way to find out or calculate the number of atoms in each of the planets in the solar system?
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Answer:
I do not know where you got the 10E120 figure, but it is off by several orders of magnitude. If the universe is 13.5 billion years old, then it has expanded (at the speed of light) to a current (observable) volume of 8E78 cubic metre.
The volume of a proton or neutron is about 4E-48 cubic metre, so there is room for 2E126 baryons, assuming they would be no space left. But universe is mostly empty (hence it is called space). I remember seeing estimates as low as 1E90 protons and neutrons.
But on with your question. If you assume that Jupiter is mostly hydrogen, then you can take it's mass and divide by the mass of the hydrogen atom, that should get you an answer that is better than 90% correct. Since Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Nepture represent over 99% of the mass of all the planets, the total for the solar system, excluding the sun, is about right already.
For the Earth and other non gas planets, you can assume that the composition is on average that of iron. I will not do all the calc for all the planets here, you can derive most of everything you need in a few minutes for each planet you are interested in.
Good luck
No easy way, no.
1. Check how much a planet weights
2. Check from which atoms the planet is made of (like 60% iron, 10% hydrogen etc...)
3. Check how much each of the atoms weight.
4. Multiply the whole weight of the planet with the percentage/100 and then divide the result with the weight of that particular atom.
5. This number tells you approximately how many that kind of atoms are in that planet.
6. Do the same for all types of atoms and sum them up.
7. There you have it for that planet. =)
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