Orders of magnitude (data)
Encyclopedia
An order of magnitude
is generally a factor of ten. A quantity growing by four orders of magnitude implies it has grown by a factor of 10000 or 104. However, because computers are binary, orders of magnitude are sometimes given as powers of two.
This article presents a list of multiples, sorted by orders of magnitude, for digital information storage measured in bit
s. This article assumes a descriptive attitude towards terminology, reflecting general usage. The article assumes the following:
Accordingly:
For comparison, the Avogadro constant is entities per mole, based upon the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12
isotope.
Order of magnitude
An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it. In its most common usage, the amount being scaled is 10 and the scale is the exponent being applied to this amount...
is generally a factor of ten. A quantity growing by four orders of magnitude implies it has grown by a factor of 10000 or 104. However, because computers are binary, orders of magnitude are sometimes given as powers of two.
This article presents a list of multiples, sorted by orders of magnitude, for digital information storage measured in bit
Bit
A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
s. This article assumes a descriptive attitude towards terminology, reflecting general usage. The article assumes the following:
- A group of 8 bits constitutes one byteByteThe byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
. The byteByteThe byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
is the most common unit of measurement of information (megabyteMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
, mebibyteMebibyteThe mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major...
, gigabyteGigabyteThe gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
, gibibyteGibibyteThe gibibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The gibibyte unit symbol is GiB....
, etc.). - In 16-bit and 32-bit architectures, having processor registers of these sizes, that chunk of data is usually called a word.
- The decimal SI prefixSI prefixThe International System of Units specifies a set of unit prefixes known as SI prefixes or metric prefixes. An SI prefix is a name that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a decadic multiple or fraction of the unit. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol...
es kilo, mega etc., are powers of 10. The power of twoPower of twoIn mathematics, a power of two means a number of the form 2n where n is an integer, i.e. the result of exponentiation with as base the number two and as exponent the integer n....
equivalents are the binary prefixBinary prefixIn computing, a binary prefix is a specifier or mnemonic that is prepended to the units of digital information, the bit and the byte, to indicate multiplication by a power of 2...
es kibi, mebi, etc.
Accordingly:
- 1 kB (kilobyteKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
) = 1000 bytes = 8000 bits - 1 KiB (kibibyteKibibyteThe kibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for quantities of digital information. The binary prefix kibi means 1024; therefore, 1 kibibyte is . The unit symbol for the kibibyte is KiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1999 and has been accepted for use...
) = 210 bytes = 1024 bytes = 8192 bits
| Binary | Decimal | Item | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Factor | Term | Factor | Term | |
| 20 | bit Bit A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states... |
100 | bit | 1 bit – 0 or 1, false or true, Low or High |
| 1.6 bits – approximate size of a trit Ternary numeral system Ternary is the base- numeral system. Analogous to a bit, a ternary digit is a trit . One trit contains \log_2 3 bits of information... (a base-3 digit) |
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| 21 | 2 bits – a crumb (rarely used term), enough to uniquely identify one base pair of genetic code Genetic code The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material is translated into proteins by living cells.... |
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| 3 bits – the size of an octal Octal The octal numeral system, or oct for short, is the base-8 number system, and uses the digits 0 to 7. Numerals can be made from binary numerals by grouping consecutive binary digits into groups of three... digit |
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| 22 | nibble Nibble In computing, a nibble is a four-bit aggregation, or half an octet... |
4 bits – (aka "nibble" or "semioctet", rarely used) the size of a hexadecimal Hexadecimal In mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen... digit; decimal Decimal The decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the numerical base most widely used by modern civilizations.... digits in binary-coded decimal Binary-coded decimal In computing and electronic systems, binary-coded decimal is a digital encoding method for numbers using decimal notation, with each decimal digit represented by its own binary sequence. In BCD, a numeral is usually represented by four bits which, in general, represent the decimal range 0 through 9... form |
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| 5 bits – the size of code points in the Baudot code Baudot code The Baudot code, invented by Émile Baudot, is a character set predating EBCDIC and ASCII. It was the predecessor to the International Telegraph Alphabet No 2 , the teleprinter code in use until the advent of ASCII. Each character in the alphabet is represented by a series of bits, sent over a... , used in telex Teleprinter A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the... communication |
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| 6 bits – the size of code points in Univac UNIVAC UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day... Fieldata Fieldata Fieldata was a pioneering computer project run by the US Army Signal Corps in the late 1950s that intended to create a single standard for collecting and distributing battlefield information... , in IBM "BCD" format, and in Braille Braille The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two... . Enough to uniquely identify one codon of genetic code. |
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| 7 bits – the size of code points in the ASCII ASCII The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text... character set – minimum length to store 2 decimal digits |
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| 23 | byte Byte The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer... |
8 bits – (a.k.a. "octet Octet (computing) An octet is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that consists of eight bits. The term is often used when the term byte might be ambiguous, as there is no standard for the size of the byte.-Overview:... ") on many computer architectures. – Equivalent to 1 "word" on 8-bit computers (Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore 64, et al.). – the "word size" (instruction length) for 8-bit console systems including: Atari 2600 Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in... , Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987... |
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| 101 | decabit | 10 bits – minimum bit Bit A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states... length to store a single byte with error-correcting memory – minimum frame Data frame In computer networking and telecommunication, a frame is a digital data transmission unit or data packet that includes frame synchronization, i.e. a sequence of bits or symbols making it possible for the receiver to detect the beginning and end of the packet in the stream of symbols or bits... length to transmit a single byte with asynchronous serial protocols |
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| 12 bits – wordlength of the PDP-8 PDP-8 The 12-bit PDP-8 was the first successful commercial minicomputer, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1960s. DEC introduced it on 22 March 1965, and sold more than 50,000 systems, the most of any computer up to that date. It was the first widely sold computer in the DEC PDP series of... of Digital Equipment Corporation (built from 1965–1990) |
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| 24 | 16 bits – commonly used in many programming language Programming language A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely.... s, the size of an integer Integer (computer science) In computer science, an integer is a datum of integral data type, a data type which represents some finite subset of the mathematical integers. Integral data types may be of different sizes and may or may not be allowed to contain negative values.... capable of holding 65,536 different values – Equivalent to 1 "word" on 16-bit computers (IBM PC, Commodore Amiga) – the "word size" (instruction length) for 16-bit console systems including: Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short... , Mattel Intellivision |
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| 25 | 32 bits (4 bytes) – size of an integer capable of holding 4,294,967,296 different values – size of an IEEE 754 IEEE floating-point standard IEEE 754–1985 was an industry standard for representingfloating-pointnumbers in computers, officially adopted in 1985 and superseded in 2008 byIEEE 754-2008. During its 23 years, it was the most widely used format for... single-precision floating point Floating point In computing, floating point describes a method of representing real numbers in a way that can support a wide range of values. Numbers are, in general, represented approximately to a fixed number of significant digits and scaled using an exponent. The base for the scaling is normally 2, 10 or 16... number – size of addresses in IPv4 IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol and the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet... , the current Internet protocol Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite... – Equivalent to 1 "word" on 32-bit computers (Apple Macintosh, Pentium-based PC). – the "word size" (instruction length) for various console systems including: PlayStation PlayStation The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000... , Nintendo GameCube Nintendo GameCube The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia... , Xbox Xbox The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... , Wii Wii The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others... |
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| 36 bits – size of word on Univac 1100-series computers and Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-10 | ||||
| 56 bits (7 bytes) – cipher strength of the DES Data Encryption Standard The Data Encryption Standard is a block cipher that uses shared secret encryption. It was selected by the National Bureau of Standards as an official Federal Information Processing Standard for the United States in 1976 and which has subsequently enjoyed widespread use internationally. It is... encryption standard |
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| 26 | 64 bits (8 bytes) – size of an integer capable of holding 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 different values – size of an IEEE 754 double-precision floating point number – Equivalent to 1 "word" on 64-bit computers (Power, PA-Risc, Alpha, Itanium, Sparc, x86-64 PCs and Macintoshes). – the "word size" (instruction length) for 64-bit console systems including: Nintendo 64 Nintendo 64 The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil... , PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... , PlayStation 3 PlayStation 3 The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... |
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| 80 bits (10 bytes) – size of an extended precision floating point number, for intermediate calculations that can be performed in floating point units of most processor Central processing unit The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in... s of the x86 family |
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| 102 | hectobit | 100 bits | ||
| 27 | 128 bits (16 bytes) – size of addresses in IPv6 IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4... , the successor protocol of IPv4 IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol and the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet... – minimum cipher strength of the Rijndael and AES Advanced Encryption Standard Advanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES... encryption standards, and of the widely used MD5 MD5 The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm is a widely used cryptographic hash function that produces a 128-bit hash value. Specified in RFC 1321, MD5 has been employed in a wide variety of security applications, and is also commonly used to check data integrity... cryptographic message digest algorithm |
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| 160 bits – maximum key length of the SHA-1, standard Tiger (hash) Tiger (hash) In cryptography, Tiger is a cryptographic hash function designed by Ross Anderson and Eli Biham in 1995 for efficiency on 64-bit platforms. The size of a Tiger hash value is 192 bits. Truncated versions can be used for compatibility with protocols assuming a particular hash size... , and Tiger2 cryptographic message digest algorithms |
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| 28 | 256 bits (32 bytes) – minimum key length for the recommended strong cryptographic message digests | |||
| 29 | 512 bits (64 bytes) – maximum key length for the standard strong cryptographic message digests in 2004 | |||
| 103 | kilobit Kilobit The kilobit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix kilo is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 103 , and therefore,... |
1000 bits | ||
| 210 | kibibit Kibibit The kibibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier kibi , a binary prefix meaning 210... |
1024 bits (128 bytes) | ||
| 1288 bits – approximate maximum capacity of a standard magnetic stripe card Magnetic stripe card A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card... |
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| 211 | 2048 bits (256 bytes) – RAM Ram -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another... capacity of the stock Altair 8800 Altair 8800 The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines. The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were... |
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| 212 | 4096 bits (512 bytes) – typical sector size, and minimum space allocation unit on computer storage volumes, with most file system File system A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the... s – approximate amount of information on a sheet of single-spaced typewritten paper (without formatting) |
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| 4704 bits (588 bytes) – uncompressed single-channel frame length in standard MPEG audio (75 frames per second and per channel), with medium quality 8-bit sampling at 44,100 Hz Hertz The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications.... (or 16-bit sampling at 22,050 Hz) |
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| 8000 bits (103 bytes) – one kilobyte Kilobyte The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information... |
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| 213 | kibibyte Kibibyte The kibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for quantities of digital information. The binary prefix kibi means 1024; therefore, 1 kibibyte is . The unit symbol for the kibibyte is KiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1999 and has been accepted for use... |
8192 bits (1,024 bytes) – RAM Ram -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another... capacity of a Sinclair ZX81 Sinclair ZX81 The ZX81 was a home computer produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Scotland by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and was designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public... . |
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| 9408 bits (1,176 bytes) – uncompressed single-channel frame length in standard MPEG audio (75 frames per second and per channel), with standard 16-bit sampling at 44,100 Hz | ||||
| 104 | 15,360 bits – one screen of data displayed on an 8-bit monochrome text console (80x24) | |||
| 214 | 16,384 bits (2 kibibytes) – one page of typed text, RAM capacity of Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987... |
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| 215 | 32,768 bits (4 kibibytes) | |||
| 216 | 65,536 bits (8 kibibytes) | |||
| 105 | 100,000 bits | |||
| 217 | 131,072 bits (16 kibibytes) – RAM Ram -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another... capacity of the smallest Sinclair ZX Spectrum. |
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| 160 kilobits – approximate size of this article as of 15 April 2010 | ||||
| 218 | 262,144 bits (32 kibibytes) | |||
| 219 | 524,288 bits (64 kibibytes) – RAM Ram -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another... capacity of a lot of popular 8-bit Computers like the C-64 Commodore 64 The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595... , Amstrad CPC Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,... etc. |
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| 106 | megabit Megabit The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix mega is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 106 , and therefore... |
1,000,000 bits | ||
| 220 | mebibit Mebibit The mebibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier mebi , a binary prefix meaning 220... |
1,048,576 bits (128 kibibytes) – RAM Ram -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another... capacity of popular 8-bit Computers like the C-128 Commodore 128 The Commodore 128 home/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines... , Amstrad CPC Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,... etc. |
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| 1,978,560 bits – a one-page, standard-resolution black-and-white fax Fax Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device... (1728 × 1145 pixels) |
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| 221 | 2,097,152 bits (256 kibibytes) | |||
| 4,147,200 bits – one frame of uncompressed NTSC NTSC NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as... DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... video (720 × 480 × 12 bpp Y'CbCr) |
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| 222 | 4,194,304 bits (512 kibibytes) | |||
| 4,976,640 bits – one frame of uncompressed PAL PAL PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system... DVD video (720 × 576 × 12 bpp Y'CbCr) |
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| 5.242.880 bits (640 kibibytes) – the maximum addressable memory of the original IBM PC IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981... architecture |
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| 8,343,400 bits – one "typical" sized photograph with reasonably good quality (1024 × 768 pixels). | ||||
| 223 | mebibyte Mebibyte The mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major... |
8,388,608 bits (1024 kibibytes) | ||
| 107 | 11,520,000 bits – capacity of a lower-resolution computer monitor (as of 2006), 800 × 600 pixels, 24 bpp | |||
| 11,796,480 bits – capacity of a 3.5 in Inch An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot... floppy disk Floppy disk A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles... , colloquially known as 1.44 megabyte Megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000... but actually 1.44 × 1000 × 1024 bytes |
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| 224 | 16,777,216 bits (2 mebibytes) | |||
| 25 megabits – amount of data in a typical color slide | ||||
| 225 | 33,554,432 bits (4 mebibytes) – RAM capacity of stock Nintendo 64 Nintendo 64 The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil... |
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| 41,943,040 bits (5 mebibytes) – approximate size of the Complete Works of Shakespeare Complete Works of Shakespeare Complete Works of William Shakespeare is the standard name given to any volume containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. Some editions include several works which were not completely of Shakespeare's authorship , such as The Two Noble Kinsmen, a collaboration with John Fletcher, as... |
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| 98,304,000 bits – capacity of a high-resolution computer monitor as of 2011, 2560 × 1600 pixels, 24 bpp | ||||
| 50–100 megabits – amount of information in a typical phone book Telephone directory A telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory... |
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| 226 | 108 | 67,108,864 bit (8 mebibytes) | ||
| 227 | 134,217,728 bits (16 mebibytes) | |||
| 150 megabits – amount of data in a large foldout map Map A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.... |
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| 228 | 268,435,456 (32 mebibytes) | |||
| 423,360,000 bits: a five-minute audio recording, in CDDA Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... quality |
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| 229 | 536,870,912 bits (64 mebibytes) | |||
| 109 | gigabit Gigabit The gigabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix giga is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 109 , and therefore... |
1,000,000,000 bits | ||
| 230 | gibibit Gibibit The gibibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier gibi , a binary prefix meaning 230. The unit symbol of the gibibit is Gibit or Gib.... |
1,073,741,824 bits (128 mebibytes) | ||
| 231 | 2,147,483,648 bits (256 mebibytes) | |||
| 232 | 4,294,967,296 bits (512 mebibytes) | |||
| 5.45 bits (650 mebibytes) – capacity of a regular compact disc Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
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| 5.89 bits (702 mebibytes) – capacity of a large regular compact disc | ||||
| 6.4 bits – capacity of the human genome Human genome The human genome is the genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 23 chromosome pairs plus the small mitochondrial DNA. 22 of the 23 chromosomes are autosomal chromosome pairs, while the remaining pair is sex-determining... (assuming 2 bits for each base pair Base pair In molecular biology and genetics, the linking between two nitrogenous bases on opposite complementary DNA or certain types of RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds is called a base pair... ) |
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| 233 | gibibyte Gibibyte The gibibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The gibibyte unit symbol is GiB.... |
8,589,934,592 bits (1024 mebibytes) | ||
| 1010 | 10,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 234 | 17,179,869,184 bits (2 gibibytes) | |||
| 235 | 34,359,738,368 bits (4 gibibytes) – maximum addressable memory on the Intel 80386 Intel 80386 The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time... |
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| 3.76 bits (4.7 gigabytes) – capacity of a single-layer, single-sided DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... |
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| 236 | 68,719,476,736 bits (8 gibibytes) | |||
| 1011 | 100,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 237 | 137,438,953,472 bits (16 gibibytes) | |||
| 1.46 bits (17 gigabytes) – capacity of a double-sided, dual-layered DVD | ||||
| 2.15 bits (25 gigabytes) – capacity of a single-sided, single-layered 12-cm Centimetre A centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of . Hence a centimetre can be written as or — meaning or respectively... Blu-ray disc Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs... |
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| 238 | 274,877,906,944 bits (32 gibibytes) | |||
| 239 | 549,755,813,888 bits (64 gibibytes) | |||
| 1012 | terabit Terabit The terabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix tera is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1012 , and therefore... |
1,000,000,000,000 bits (125 gigabytes) | ||
| 240 | tebibit Tebibit The tebibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier tebi , a binary prefix meaning 240... |
1.34 bits – estimated capacity of the Polychaos dubium genome, the largest known genome Genome In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA.... |
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| 1.6 bits (200 gigabyte Gigabyte The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is... s) – capacity of a hard disk Hard disk A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the... that would be considered average |
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| 241 | 2,199,023,255,552 bits (256 gibibytes) | |||
| 242 | 4,398,046,511,104 bits (512 gibibytes) | |||
| 243 | tebibyte Tebibyte The tebibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The tebibyte unit symbol is TiB.... |
8,796,093,022,208 bits (1024 gibibytes) | ||
| (approximately) 8.97 bits – , data of π Pi ' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants... to the largest number of decimal digits ever calculated (2.7) |
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| 1013 | 10,000,000,000,000 bits (1.25 terabyte Terabyte The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes... s) – capacity of a human being's functional memory, according to Raymond Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil is an American author, inventor and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition , text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments... in The Singularity Is Near The Singularity Is Near The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology is a 2005 update of Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines and his 1990 book The Age of Intelligent Machines. In it, as in the two previous versions, Kurzweil attempts to give a glimpse of what awaits us in the near future... , p. 126 |
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| 244 | 17,592,186,044,416 bits (2 tebibytes) | |||
| 245 | 35,184,372,088,832 bits (4 tebibytes) | |||
| 246 | 70,368,744,177,664 bits (8 tebibytes) | |||
| 1014 | 100,000,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 247 | 140,737,488,355,328 bits (16 tebibytes) | |||
| 1.5 bits (18.75 terabytes) | ||||
| 248 | 281,474,976,710,656 bits (32 tebibytes) | |||
| 249 | 562,949,953,421,312 bits (64 tebibytes) | |||
| 1015 | petabit Petabit The petabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix peta is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1015 , and therefore... |
1,000,000,000,000,000 bits | ||
| 250 | pebibit Pebibit The pebibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier pebi , a binary prefix meaning 250... |
1,125,899,906,842,624 bits (128 tebibytes) | ||
| 2.4 bits (300 terabyte Terabyte The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes... s) – size of the Internet Archive Internet Archive The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive... |
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| 251 | 2,251,799,813,685,248 bits (256 tebibytes) | |||
| 252 | 4,503,599,627,370,496 bits (512 tebibytes) | |||
| 8,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1015 bytes) – one petabyte Petabyte A petabyte is a unit of information equal to one quadrillion bytes, or 1000 terabytes. The unit symbol for the petabyte is PB... |
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| 253 | pebibyte Pebibyte The pebibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The pebibyte unit symbol is PiB.... |
9,007,199,254,740,992 bits (1024 tebibytes) | ||
| 1016 | 10,000,000,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 254 | 18,014,398,509,481,984 bits (2 pebibytes) | |||
| 255 | 36,028,797,018,963,968 bits (4 pebibytes) – theoretical maximum of addressable physical memory in the AMD64 architecture | |||
| 4.5 bits (5.625 petabyte Petabyte A petabyte is a unit of information equal to one quadrillion bytes, or 1000 terabytes. The unit symbol for the petabyte is PB... s) – estimated hard drive space in Google Google Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program... 's server farm Server farm A server farm or server cluster is a collection of computer servers usually maintained by an enterprise to accomplish server needs far beyond the capability of one machine. Server farms often have backup servers, which can take over the function of primary servers in the event of a primary server... |
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| 256 | 72,057,594,037,927,936 bits (8 pebibytes) | |||
| 10 petabytes (1016 bytes) – estimated approximate size of the Library of Congress Library of Congress The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and... 's collection, including non-book materials, as of 2005 |
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| 1017 | 100,000,000,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 257 | 144,115,188,075,855,872 bits (16 pebibytes) | |||
| 258 | 288,230,376,151,711,744 bits (32 pebibytes) | |||
| 259 | 576,460,752,303,423,488 bits (64 pebibytes) | |||
| 8 , the storage capacity of the fictional Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise... character Data Data (Star Trek) Lieutenant Commander Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek... |
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| 1018 | exabit Exabit The exabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix exa is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1018 , and therefore... |
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits | ||
| 260 | exbibit Exbibit The exbibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier exbi , a binary prefix meaning 260... |
1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bits (128 pebibytes) | ||
| 1.6 bits (200 petabyte Petabyte A petabyte is a unit of information equal to one quadrillion bytes, or 1000 terabytes. The unit symbol for the petabyte is PB... s) – total amount of print Printing Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.... ed material in the world |
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| 261 | 2,305,843,009,213,693,952 bits (256 pebibytes) | |||
| 262 | 4,611,686,018,427,387,904 bits (512 pebibytes) | |||
| 263 | exbibyte Exbibyte The exbibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The exbibyte unit symbol is EiB.... |
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 bits (1024 pebibytes) | ||
| 1019 | 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 264 | 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bits (2 exbibytes) | |||
| 265 | 36,893,488,147,419,103,232 bits (4 exbibytes) | |||
| 50,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (5 exabytes) | ||||
| 266 | 73,786,976,294,838,206,464 bits (8 exbibytes) | |||
| 1020 | 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 267 | 147,573,952,589,676,412,928 bits (16 exbibytes) – maximum addressable memory using 64bit addresses without segmentation | |||
| 268 | 295,147,905,179,352,825,856 bits (32 exbibytes) | |||
| 3.5 × 1020 bits – increase in information capacity when 1 Joule of energy is added to a heat-bath at 300 K (27°C) | ||||
| 269 | 590,295,810,358,705,651,712 bits (64 exbibytes) | |||
| 1021 | zettabit Zettabit The zettabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix zetta is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1021 , and therefore... |
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits | ||
| 270 | zebibit Zebibit The zebibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier zebi , a binary prefix meaning 270... |
1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bits (128 exbibytes) | ||
| 271 | 2,361,183,241,434,822,606,848 bits (256 exbibytes) | |||
| 3.4 bits (0.36 zettabyte Zettabyte A zettabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion bytes.... s) – amount of information that can be stored in 1 gram Gram The gram is a metric system unit of mass.... of DNA DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in... |
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| 4.7 bits (0.50 zettabytes) – amount of digitally stored information in the world as of May 2009 | ||||
| 272 | 4,722,366,482,869,645,213,696 bits (512 exbibytes) | |||
| 273 | zebibyte Zebibyte The zebibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The zebibyte unit symbol is ZiB.1 zebibyte = 270 bytes = = 1,024 exbibytes... |
9,444,732,965,739,290,427,392 bits (1024 exbibytes) | ||
| 1022 | 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits | |||
| 1023 | 1.0 bits – increase in information capacity when 1 Joule of energy is added to a heat-bath at 1 K (-272.15°C) | |||
| 6.0 bits – information content of 1 mole (12.01 g) of graphite Graphite The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal... at 25°C; equivalent to an average of 0.996 bits per atom. |
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| 1024 | yottabit Yottabit The yottabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix yotta is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1024 , and therefore... |
7.3 bits – information content of 1 mole (18.02 g) of liquid water Water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a... at 25°C; equivalent to an average of 12.14 bits per molecule. |
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| 1025 | 1.1 bits – entropy increase of 1 mole (18.02 g) of water, on vaporizing at 100°C at standard pressure; equivalent to an average of 18.90 bits per molecule. | |||
| 1.5 bits – information content of 1 mole (20.18 g) of neon Neon Neon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps or... gas at 25°C and 1 atm; equivalent to an average of 25.39 bits per atom. |
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| 2 150 | 1045 | ~ 1045 bits – the number of bits required to perfectly recreate the average-sized U.S. adult male human being down to the quantum level on a computer is about 2 bits of information (see Bekenstein bound Bekenstein bound In physics, the Bekenstein bound is an upper limit on the entropy S, or information I, that can be contained within a given finite region of space which has a finite amount of energy—or conversely, the maximum amount of information required to perfectly describe a given physical system down to the... for the basis for this calculation). |
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| 1058 | ~ 1058 bits – thermodynamic entropy of the sun Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... (about 30 bits per proton, plus 10 bits per electron). |
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| 1069 | ~ 1069 bits – thermodynamic entropy of the Milky Way Galaxy (counting only the star Star A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth... s, not the black holes within the galaxy) |
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| 1077 | 1.5 bits – information content of a one-solar-mass black hole Black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that... . |
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| 2305 | 1092 | The information capacity of the observable universe Observable universe In Big Bang cosmology, the observable universe consists of the galaxies and other matter that we can in principle observe from Earth in the present day, because light from those objects has had time to reach us since the beginning of the cosmological expansion... , according to Seth Lloyd Seth Lloyd Seth Lloyd is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He refers to himself as a "quantum mechanic".... . |
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For comparison, the Avogadro constant is entities per mole, based upon the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12
Carbon-12
Carbon-12 is the more abundant of the two stable isotopes of the element carbon, accounting for 98.89% of carbon; it contains 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons....
isotope.