Have you ever wondered how much water there is on Earth?
I mean you can easily google the answer, it's 332 million cubic miles, but the problem is that this number is simply too big to imagine.
We've nicknamed the planet the 'Blue Marble' because when viewed from space, the water is overwhelmingly visible.
Two-thirds of the surface is covered in water, but that doesn't begin to tell the whole story.
So in this video, I wanted to see just how much water there really is, and whether or not we're going to run out of it.
>:0
If you can remove every drop of water on earth and form a sphere with it, how big would that sphere be?
Now you might be thinking that it would probably be larger than the moon, because we have a lot of water and the moon's not THAT
big, I mean look at it. It's literally just sitting there on the earth.
Yeah, good sit!
-MYSTERIOUS DOGGO APPEARS-
All right, so what size are we talking about here? It would be...
*HERE IT IS, THE BIG REVEAL!*
...it would be this big.
*oh.*
Which... might be a little smaller than you're expecting.
However, what you are seeing is all of the water on Earth!
All of the oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, aquifers, clouds, and even the water in all living things.
It all forms a hydrosphere small enough to be a moon of our Moon!
*BWOOOOOMP*
But how is that the case?!
How is it possible for that tiny little sphere to cover so much of our planet in water?
Well, the answer is that the earth is relatively flat.
*O MAH GAWD REALLY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I THOUGHT THE EARTH WAS ACTUALLY A DINOSAUR AND ALL THIS TIME I WAS ACTUALLY WRONG?! IS MY WHOLE LIFE A LIE-*
*LOL NOPE THE EARTH IS ACTUALLY WREN*
NO!, no, I mean that it's smooth not flat!.
You see, Earth may have very deep trenches and giant mountains,
but compared to the width of the entire planet, the difference between them is basically nothing.
You may have heard that if you were to shrink the earth down to the size of a billiards ball,
that it would actually be smoother than that billiards ball.
In truth however, that's a little bit of a misconception because the earth would actually feel closer to 320 grit sandpaper, but let's be real.
DAS STILL PRETTEH DANG SMOOTH
Plus, a little bit of water goes a pretty long way, as anyone who's ever spilled a glass of water certainly knows.
:0
Even a small volume of water can cover a really large area, and that's exactly what happened here on Earth.
If Earth was the size of an apple, the oceans would be seven times thinner than the skin of that apple.
Now, don't get me wrong, that is still a lot of water, obviously.
I mean, yeah, it's 860 miles wide, but that means it's also 860 miles tall.
That is three times further out into space than where the International Space Station orbits the earth.
*HEAD INJURY*
But what is all of that? How much of it is freshwater vs. salty ocean?
Not much. Only two-and-a-half percent of all water is FRESH.
However, if you were to gather only the fresh water,
It would still form a sphere 250 miles wide. That's twice the width of Florida. So, uh take that, Florida. I guess.
Here's the thing though; yeah, it's fresh water, but that doesn't mean it's drinkable liquid fresh water.
Most of that is ice!
You see, 61 percent of all freshwater is actually frozen in the Antarctic ice sheet.
Which is a massive plate of ice the size of a FREAKING continent!
If you were to separate all of the ice from the freshwater sphere,
it would look like this. That's a - that's a pretty hefty snowball!
*MANIACAL UNCLE LAUGHTER*
So, where's the rest of the freshwater? Well, most of it is actually underground, and I'll get back to that in a moment.
Obviously we have lakes, rivers, clouds.
Oh, permafrost, which is just frozen dirt!
We actually have three times the amount of permafrost than we do in all of the lakes combined.
Freakin' frozen dirt!
Some Random Guy on the Backround: FFD!
FFD!
Jesus-
In fact, all of the world's fresh water supply lakes and rivers only account for 0.3 percent of it!
That small little ball meets most of the freshwater needs of humanity. And all of life, for that matter!
It is about 35 miles wide, and at this scale, you can now begin to see individual cities.
But that sphere also contains all of the world's freshwater rivers as well.
And we're talking, you know,
the Mississippi, the Nile, the Yangtze,
the...
Amazon!
They only add up to 2% of all surface freshwater.
And would form a sphere a mere 10 miles wide.
To compare, there is six times that amount of water in the air around us and some of that is in the clouds, sure,
but most of it is actually in the water vapor that you can't even see. It's invisible.
Now get this though, you and I, we're mostly made out of water,
but that goes for every single animal, plant, bug, even bacteria!
If you can remove the water composition from every living thing, it'd be half the volume of even the rivers!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Okay, now remember when I mentioned that most of the water is underground?
Well, if you were able to extract all of that, it would form a sphere 160 miles wide.
However, we can only really use about six percent of that water due to a number of different reasons like
accessibility and renewability issues with the source. The average American, for instance, uses about 90 gallons of water per day.
Which is 18 of these classic-looking water jugs.
And of course that's divided between things like flushing toilets, bathing, cooking, washing, etc. It all adds up.
However, where we really use our water is indirectly, by eating it.
We don't directly see it, so food for example uses a lot of water to produce, and beef in particular.
A single pound of beef requires 1,800 gallons of water, which is 360 of these same water jugs!
lol he ded
And I realize that might be hard to believe because it doesn't seem physically possible, but don't forget that cows?
They eat a lot of corn, and all that corn requires a lot of water to grow.
It's kind of seeming like there's not really that much water to go around and yet, humanity uses a lot of water.
So are we going to run out or not?
And the short answer is no.
but... there's not an actual simple answer to this question.
It is estimated that humanity uses 4 trillion cubic meters of water per year,
and that comes out to a sphere that's about 12 miles wide.
Every year.
See the real problem here is water scarcity, not whether or not we're gonna run out of it.
There's a lot of water left.
The original point of this video was just to kind of show how much water there is on earth,
I thought it'd be some sweet visuals. I didn't even plan this part of the video,
I haven't written anything for this, I'm just kind of talking now.
So if you're wondering what kind of things you can do to help solve this problem?
Well, the first step is simply to be mindful of your water usage.
I'm not asking you to become vegan. I'M not vegan!
I love beef burgers!
However, that being said, I've kind of fallen in love with the Beyond Burger?
It's plant-based and uses 99 percent less water than its beef counterpart and honestly, it's really hard to tell the difference.
Uhh, the one from Carl's Jr. It's pretty solid.
This isn't sponsored! I'm just saying.
So yeah, I'm just simply asking you to be more mindful of this as a problem.
Maybe share this video your friends. (if you have any unlike me.)
Yeah. I'm just glad you watched it.
I'm tired.
This video comes out tomorrow, and we're doing a merchandise push. Check this out!
Over at corridordigital.store, we put this really cool hoodie up for sale...
And it is so comfortable, it sold out in the first day!
We decided to bring it back for a limited run.
Place your orders now because you have until the end of February to get this limited-edition item now.
We are only going to make as many of these as we sell. Don't miss out!
I mean come on, these videos are not the sort of thing you can just make every single day!
*tiny yelp*
So thanks for watching, and stay tuned in the next video where I compare the size of buildings to that of Tom Cr-