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Beeb deploys ISS as unit of measurement

Your orbital height in one-dollar coins

It's hats off to the Beeb today for creating the "most marvellously pointless measurement", as our informant Alex Cooksey puts it.

In a bold challenge to the linguine, the double-decker bus and the brontosaurus, Auntie has calculated that the estimated $1.1bn in dollar coins currently languishing in US government vaults would, if stacked up, reach "almost seven times higher than the International Space Station".

Nice one. Each dollar coin is apparently 2mm thick, while the ISS orbits at around 350 km, so we'll leave it to you lot to see if the BBC's maths is correct.

And while you're at it, what's the height of 1.1 billion dollar nuggets in linguine? Enquiring minds want to know... ®

Bootnote

Interestingly, the average speed of the ISS is 27,743.8 km/h, which is a paltry 0.2571 per cent of the maximum velocity of a sheep in a vacuum.

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