People have been stunned to realise that the United States is actually wider than the moon, if you were to look at one placed on top of the other front-on.
This is a revelation that much of TikTok appears to be aware of – not that anyone wants to believe it.
The platform boasts a number of videos on the topic, including one from user @simplebiologist, a PhD scientist ‘trying to tell some cool stories’.
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She captioned her post: “Do I not know how big the moon is?”
Take a look below:
@simplebiologist said she'd been told that Australia is 'wider than the moon', which sent her into a wormhole that revealed how the moon also compared to other nations or continents.
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In the clip, she explained: “So, my husband told me a fact yesterday that Australia is wider than the moon.
“So, I looked it up and, not only is Australia wider than the moon, the United States is wider than the moon - and a full friggin’, like, two moons would fit into Africa.
“TWO MOONS IN AFRICA. And I just... I don’t know what to do with this information.”
Many other people were equally baffled by the news, with one commenting: “Look, idk what to do with this information either. Don't put this on us!”
Someone else said: “This sent me into a spiral," while a third wrote: “I was *just thinking* today that I didn’t actually know how big the moon is. Guess it’s not that big.”
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Another asked ‘who shrunk the moon’, while one added: “Hi, my brain is not in a stable enough condition to process this information. Thanks!”
Someone pointed out that we should probably bear in mind that we’re comparing a 3D object with a 2D plane, but still, the width point stands.
“You're comparing a 3-dimension sphere with a 2-dimensional plane.” they said. “The moon's surface area is 15 million sq mi and Africa's area is 12.”
Indeed, according to The Nine Planets, the moon’s diameter is 3,476km/2,155mi, while the United States is is 4,506 km / 2,800 mi wide when measured horizontally from east to west.
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The site explains: “How does the Moon compare to Earth? Our Moon’s diameter is more than a quarter of Earth’s diameter, while its mass is 1/81 that of Earth’s. It basically weighs 80 times less than our Earth. The Moon’s radius is only 27 percent of our Earth’s radius. If our Earth were hollow, it would take around 50 Moons to fill it.
“The United States is 4,506 km / 2,800 mi wide when measured horizontally from the eastern seaboard to the west coast – West Quoddy Head in the east to the Point Arena in the West. Thus the Moon is smaller in diameter than the United States, however.
“The United States is 2,545 km / 1,582 mi from north to south, and thus, the Moon is smaller across than the United States is wide.”
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