How many bbs would it take to level off the entire Grand Canyon?

3 ANSWERS

1. 
   

   Good answers. Of course, you know, by filling the Grand Canyon with BBs, Hoover dam would probably burst, all them BBs would flow into the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the increased mass of Cu in the crust may destabilize the N American plate, and 'goodbye, CA!'.

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2. 
   

   Length (from Lees Ferry to the Grand Wash) :  277 miles
   
   Average width (rim-to-rim) :  10 miles.
   
   Average height of rims above the river:  1 mile.
   
   Taking these numbers at face value, we obtain a volume of 2770 cubic miles.
   
   The density of spherical stacking is pi/sqrt(12) or about 0.9069 0r 90.69%
   
   The total density of the BB would be 2770 miles (.9069) = 2512.113 cubic miles
   
   The caliber of a BB is .177 inches. The volume is 4/3 pi r^3 = 4/3 pi 0.0885^3 = 0.0029 cubic inches
   
   2 512.113 (cubic miles) = 6.38976192 × 10^17 cubic inches
   
   6.38976192 × 10^17 / 0.0029 = 2.2034 × 10^20 BB's

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3. 
   

   I got 9.01 X 10 ^15
   
   2700 cubic miles as volume to fill
   
   4.5 mm cubed as volume of bb but since it is a sphere it actually takes less space but the estimate of volume of the canyon is a bit high.

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