Stars or Transistors: Which Outnumbers the Other in Our Universe?

In summary: I'll try to remember and add it to this answer. In summary, there are an estimated 10^22 to 10^24 stars in the observable universe. This number is vastly larger than the number of mass-produced MOSFETs, which is estimated to be around 10^7.
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Kholdstare
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1
This thing just popped into my head last night while describing to a friend, possible end of our universe.

Which one is higher? the number of stars in our universe or the number of MOSFETs we mass-fabricated in our civilization ?

My guess is though number of stars. What do you think? (consider current number of MOSFETs should be also an intimidating number.)

Any rough statistics on this matter will also be very enlighting.
 
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  • #2
The number of stars is unknown, but could be infinite.
 
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Kholdstare said:
Which one is higher? the number of stars in our universe or the number of MOSFETs we mass-fabricated in our civilization ?

I think you underestimate the number of stars in universe. Supposedly there is about 10^22 -10^24 stars (see below). I don't know how many MOSFETs have people ever produced. Say a high-end CPU has a few million gates. (10^7). People have produced ~10 billion processors (10^10) so you are somewhere around 10^17, say 10^20 with other electronics, which is still a few orders less then the number of stars.

Did I get the orders right? :confused:

Wikipedia: Observable universe
 
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On the basis of the numbers presented, MOSFETs win or soon will.

There are 6.8 billion transistors in a large FPGA. A large Intel server processor has upwards of 2.5 billion. 8 gigs of ram? More than 8 billion.

Such ICs (together with many more smaller ones) are fabricated by the billions per year and are fielded for many years.
 
  • #6
@FailedLaunch - I did not underestimate star count, haha. You can read my answer in the first post.

That link was good. However, there's a much better link (arranged in tabular form) somewhere I don't remember now.
 

FAQ: Stars or Transistors: Which Outnumbers the Other in Our Universe?

What is a star?

A star is a luminous celestial body made up of hot gases, mainly hydrogen and helium, that generates energy through nuclear fusion reactions in its core.

What is a transistor?

A transistor is a semiconductor device that acts as a switch or amplifier in electronic circuits. It is made up of three layers of a material with different electrical properties, usually silicon.

Which outnumbers the other in our universe, stars or transistors?

Stars far outnumber transistors in our universe. There are estimated to be billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone, while transistors are man-made and only exist on Earth.

How are stars and transistors related?

Stars and transistors are not directly related. However, transistors use the principles of quantum mechanics, which helps us understand how stars work.

Are there more stars or transistors on Earth?

There are significantly more transistors on Earth than stars. It is estimated that there are over 10 trillion transistors in electronic devices on Earth, while there are only about 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

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