> this event released the same as 10^31 Tsar Bombas, which is … a lot of energy? That number is too big to be a good intuition pump
Let me try:
To match this power with sequentially detonated bombs, one would need to set off about 10^13 Tsar Bombas (or one hydrogen bomb scaled up to 5% the mass of the Moon) every second since the Big Bang to match it. With that amount of energy, you could essentially destroy earth every second since the Big Bang.
I don't care about the anecdote and its origin (but I did read this and thank you for setting the record straight). I don't care about Bono either :) He's a singer in a band that once made great music, and got lots of money, and does some good things about it. It's the parallelism of the statements 'stop clapping' x 'stop setting off bombs' that cracked me up.
Let me try:
To match this power with sequentially detonated bombs, one would need to set off about 10^13 Tsar Bombas (or one hydrogen bomb scaled up to 5% the mass of the Moon) every second since the Big Bang to match it. With that amount of energy, you could essentially destroy earth every second since the Big Bang.