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9 years ago
It’s estimated that there are a trillion comets in the Oort cloud, which extends out to about 50,000 AU.

Part A
What is the total volume of the Oort cloud, in cubic AU? (Hints: For the purpose of this calculation, you can assume the Oort cloud fills the whole sphere out to 50000 AU. The equation for the volume of a sphere is 43πr3 where r is the radius.)

VtheOortcloud = AU3

Part B
How much space does each comet have in cubic AU, on average?

Vper comet =  AU3 
    
Part C
Take the cube root of the average volume per comet, to find their typical spacing in AU.
   
Ltypical = AU
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Staff Member
9 years ago
What is the total volume of the Oort cloud, in cubic \({\rm AU}\)? (Hints: For the purpose of this calculation, you can assume the Oort cloud fills the whole sphere out to 50000 \({\rm AU}\). The equation for the volume of a sphere is \(\frac{4}{3}\pi r^{3}\) where r is the radius.)

Plug the numbers into the formula and calculate:
4/3 pi r^3 = 4/3 pi (5x10^4)^3 = 5.24 x 10^14 cubic AU
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