Question

How much would it cost to cover the entire land area of the U.S. in dollar bills?

Answer 1

Answer:

  $900 trillion

Explanation:

If Alaska is 20% of the contiguous US, then the approximate area of interest is ...

  1200 miles × 3000 miles = 3.6×10^6 square miles.

The size of a dollar bill is about ...

  (6.5 cm)·(15.5 cm) = 100.75 cm^2

One mile is 160,934.4 cm, so 1 square mile is about ...

  1 mi^2 = (160,934.4 cm)^2 ≈ 2.59·10^10 cm^2

The number of dollars of interest is then ...

  (3.6 · 10^6 mi^2)(2.59 · 10^10 cm^2)/(100.75 cm^2) ≈ 9.3·10^14

  ≈ 930 × 10^12 . . . dollars

It would cost about 900 trillion dollars to cover the land area of the US in $1 bills.