
Ask HN: What is total mass of human-infecting SARS-CoV-2 Covid-19 virus - nwatson
If you took all the SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, virii &#x2F; virus particles that have infected all humans since the beginning of the outbreak in late 2019, what would be their total mass?  Would they all fit in a shot glass? beer glass? wine cask? moonshine bathtub? brewery vat? Frank Sinatra&#x27;s wine cellar?<p>(I&#x27;m curious and Googled for this but get a lot of unrelated stuff.)
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nabla9
Rough ballpark estimate: from few 100s of kilograms to maybe few 100s grams.

Reasoning: (Number of infected, N) / (viral load)×(average human size in
milliliters)) × (mass of the virus) × number of time viruses replicate in
humans.

N = 2-10 million, Viral load: 10^4 to 10^7 / mL so maybe 5x10^9 viruses per
human at any time. The weigh of the virus is in the order of magnitude
1×10^−18 (100s attograms to femtogram)

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chrisdalke
To add to your question, what would the mass of virus actually appear like in
terms of physical/optical properties?

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kentbrew
This sounds like a Google interview question....

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bmn__
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=642804](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=642804)

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burfog
A shot glass of pure virus is an interesting concept. No matter how well
vaccinated you might be, drinking it would overwhelm any possible response.
Better yet, snort a line of it.

