I have a technical background and as I write this am 64.
Thousands used to be a big number to me (for example "Kilobyte", meaning 1,000). One thousand was not too difficult to comprehend. For example, there are 1,000 seconds in about 20 minutes. There are 1,000 cycles per second in a kilohertz. I am old enough to remember when $1,000 was a lot of money.
Then came a Million. I don't remember struggling with one million...but I'm sure I thought it through. Megahertz...a million cycles a second. There are one million seconds in less than 12 days.
A Billion was a bit of a stretch for me. I remember struggling with a billion. At the time I was teaching at the local community college. I would always take a few minutes to teach my students that 1 billion seconds was just a bit less than 32 years. Gigahertz...a billion cycles a second
So far, one thousand, one million, and one billion seem like reasonable numbers and I can comprehend them.
Now we get to 1 trillion...a number that we are starting to hear more and more. Before I give you the bottom line I want to review a bit of history:
- Written history began about 8,500 BC. Roughly. I don't want to argue the number. Written history began a long time ago.
- There may or may not have been a Noah. There does, however, seem to have been an event that could have been Noah's flood about 13,000 BC. We are not sure...we don't have a written record of that time.
- Bottom line...both the beginning of written history, and Noah's flood were a hell of a long time ago.
ONE TRILLION SECONDS GOES 20,000 YEARS FURTHER BACK THAN NOAH'S FLOOD.
Go ahead...get your arms or your mind around one trillion. I know that I am having a very difficult time.
Feel free to pass this definition to whomever you think might benefit from the knowledge.
