Stars or Transistors: Which Outnumbers the Other in Our Universe?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on comparing the number of stars in the universe to the number of MOSFETs fabricated by humanity. It is established that the estimated number of stars ranges from 1022 to 1024, while the total number of MOSFETs, including those in CPUs and other electronics, is approximately 1020. This indicates that the number of stars significantly exceeds the number of MOSFETs currently produced. The conversation also highlights the rapid production of integrated circuits, such as FPGAs and Intel processors, which contain billions of transistors.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of astronomical estimates, specifically the concept of the observable universe.
  • Familiarity with semiconductor technology, particularly MOSFETs and their applications.
  • Knowledge of integrated circuit design, including FPGAs and CPUs.
  • Basic grasp of exponential notation and large number comparisons.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the current estimates of the number of stars in the observable universe.
  • Explore the production statistics of MOSFETs and integrated circuits in the semiconductor industry.
  • Learn about the architecture and transistor counts of modern CPUs and FPGAs.
  • Investigate scientific theories regarding the ultimate fate of the universe.
USEFUL FOR

Astronomers, semiconductor engineers, computer scientists, and anyone interested in the comparison of cosmic and technological scales.

Kholdstare
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This thing just popped into my head last night while describing to a friend, possible end of our universe.

Which one is higher? the number of stars in our universe or the number of MOSFETs we mass-fabricated in our civilization ?

My guess is though number of stars. What do you think? (consider current number of MOSFETs should be also an intimidating number.)

Any rough statistics on this matter will also be very enlighting.
 
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The number of stars is unknown, but could be infinite.
 
Kholdstare said:
Which one is higher? the number of stars in our universe or the number of MOSFETs we mass-fabricated in our civilization ?

I think you underestimate the number of stars in universe. Supposedly there is about 10^22 -10^24 stars (see below). I don't know how many MOSFETs have people ever produced. Say a high-end CPU has a few million gates. (10^7). People have produced ~10 billion processors (10^10) so you are somewhere around 10^17, say 10^20 with other electronics, which is still a few orders less then the number of stars.

Did I get the orders right? :confused:

Wikipedia: Observable universe
 
Last edited:
On the basis of the numbers presented, MOSFETs win or soon will.

There are 6.8 billion transistors in a large FPGA. A large Intel server processor has upwards of 2.5 billion. 8 gigs of ram? More than 8 billion.

Such ICs (together with many more smaller ones) are fabricated by the billions per year and are fielded for many years.
 
@FailedLaunch - I did not underestimate star count, haha. You can read my answer in the first post.

That link was good. However, there's a much better link (arranged in tabular form) somewhere I don't remember now.
 

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