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Chemical Formula

|< < Prev #3200 (January 28, 2026)

Title text: Some of the atoms in the molecule are very weakly bound.

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Explanation

This is incomplete: This page was created by the carbon in the universe . Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

The supposed "chemical formula for the universe" merely lists the numbers of atoms of each element. As is common practice for real compounds that contain organic structures or substructures, the numbers of atoms of carbon and hydrogen are listed before all of the others; the others are listed in alphabetical order. There are estimated to be 10⁸⁰ atoms of hydrogen (H), by far the most common element in the universe. The next most common element, helium (He), is a long way to the right in the list, and out of view, but would be about a third as many as the hydrogens.

These numbers are large, but they are not nameless. Using the long and short scales, these numbers can be described as:

Pos	Symb	Name	Quantity	Short Scale name	Long Scale name(s)	Ranked quantity*
1	C	Carbon	1076	Ten quattuorvigintillion	Ten thousand duodecillion Ten duodecilliard	4
2	H	Hydrogen	1080	One hundred quinvigintillion	One hundred tridecilllion	1
3	Ac	Actinium	1067	Ten unvigintillion	Ten undecillion	≈84
4	Ag	Silver	1069	One duovigintillion	One thousand undecillion One undecilliard	≈68
5	Al	Aluminium Aluminum	1075	One quattuorvigintillion	One thousand duodecillion One duodecilliard	14
6	Am	Americium	1026	One hundred septillion	One hundred quadrillion	≈84
7	Ar	Argon	1075	One quattuorvigintillion	One thousand duodecillion One duodecilliard	11
8	As	Arsenic	1070	Ten duovigintillion	Ten thousand undecillion Ten undecilliard	≈40
9	At	Astatine	1047	One hundred quattuordecillion	One hundred thousand septillion One hundred septilliard	≈84
10	Au	Gold	1069	One duovigintillion	One thousand undecillion One undecilliard	≈68
11	B	Boron	1071	One hundred duovigintillion	One hundred thousand undecillion One hundred undecilliard	≈61
12	Ba	Barium	1070	Ten duovigintillion	Ten thousand undecillion Ten undecilliard	≈33
13	Be	Beryllium	1071*	One hundred duovigintillion	One hundred thousand undecillion One hundred undecilliard	≈61
43*	He	Helium	1079*	Ten quinvigintillion	Ten tridecilllion	2
73*	O	Oxygen	1078*	One quinvigintillion	One tridecilllion	3

* - Information not provided by the comic; Source for ranked data, in particular, does not 'entirely' agree with the quantities that are given in the comic.

The matter originally created in the Big Bang was unbound protons and neutrons. In the first few minutes, some of these combined to form lightweight nuclei, but most remained as protons, i.e. the nuclei of hydrogen atoms. Other, more complex atoms formed later as a result of stellar nucleosynthesis, up to atomic mass 56. Still more massive nuclei have been formed via supernova nucleosynthesis. Although the proportions of these atoms depend in a complex way on the fusion processes involved, and on the stabilities of those nuclei, the most massive atoms are generally both less favored to form and short-lived, so their elemental abundances in the universe are very small. As shown above, the number of americium (Am) atoms is much smaller than those of any other element in the visible part of the "formula". There are slightly fewer atoms of americium in the entire universe than the total number of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen in 1.0 L of liquid water.

This may be poking some fun at the relative usefulness (or rather, uselessness) of chemical formulas for large organic molecules. While it is a useful concept for teaching people about chemistry and balancing equations, and it was useful in the early days of chemistry to try to categorize and learn about molecules via stoichiometry - it does not give much useful information. For example even the simple formula C₁₁H₁₅NO₂ has 302 registered isomers.^{[actual citation needed]} Many of them are NOT good to eat.^{[citation needed]}

The formula as it appears in the comic is truncated. The complete formula of the universe in this style (but arranged in order of abundance after carbon) would be C₁₀⁷⁷ H₁₀⁸⁰ He₁₀⁷⁹ O₁₀⁷⁸ Ne₁₀⁷⁶ N₁₀⁷⁶ Mg₁₀⁷⁵ Si₁₀⁷⁵ Ar₁₀⁷⁵ Fe₁₀⁷⁶ S₁₀⁷⁶ Ni₁₀⁷⁵ Ca₁₀⁷⁵ Al₁₀⁷⁵ B₁₀⁷¹ Be₁₀⁷¹ Na₁₀⁷⁵ As₁₀⁷² Br₁₀⁷² Li₁₀⁷² Cr₁₀⁷⁵ Ti₁₀⁷⁴ Mn₁₀⁷⁴ P₁₀⁷⁴ K₁₀⁷⁴ V₁₀⁷⁴ Cl₁₀⁷⁴ F₁₀⁷³ Sc₁₀⁷² Co₁₀⁷⁴ Cu₁₀⁷² Zn₁₀⁷³ Ga₁₀⁷² Ge₁₀⁷³ Se₁₀⁷² Kr₁₀⁷² Rb₁₀⁷² Sr₁₀⁷² Y₁₀⁷¹ Zr₁₀⁷² Nb₁₀⁷¹ Mo₁₀⁷¹ Tc₁₀⁰ Ru₁₀⁷¹ Rh₁₀⁷⁰ Pd₁₀⁷¹ Ag₁₀⁷⁰ Cd₁₀⁷¹ In₁₀⁷⁰ Sn₁₀⁷¹ Sb₁₀⁷⁰ Te₁₀⁷² I₁₀⁷¹ Xe₁₀⁷² Cs₁₀⁷⁰ Ba₁₀⁷² La₁₀⁷¹ Ce₁₀⁷² Pr₁₀⁷¹ Nd₁₀⁷² Pm₁₀⁰ Sm₁₀⁷¹ Eu₁₀⁷⁰ Gd₁₀⁷¹ Tb₁₀⁷⁰ Dy₁₀⁷¹ Ho₁₀⁷⁰ Er₁₀⁷¹ Tm₁₀⁷⁰ Yb₁₀⁷¹ Lu₁₀⁷⁰ Hf₁₀⁷⁰ Ta₁₀⁷⁰ W₁₀⁷⁰ Re₁₀⁷⁰ Os₁₀⁷¹ Ir₁₀⁷¹ Pt₁₀⁷¹ Au₁₀⁷⁰ Hg₁₀⁷¹ Tl₁₀⁷⁰ Pb₁₀⁷² Bi₁₀⁷⁰ Po₁₀⁰ At₁₀⁰ Rn₁₀⁰ Fr₁₀⁰ Ra₁₀⁰ Ac₁₀⁰ Th₁₀⁷⁰ Pa₁₀⁰ U₁₀⁷⁰ Np₁₀⁰ Pu₁₀⁰ Am₁₀⁰ Cm₁₀⁰ Bk₁₀⁰ Cf₁₀⁰ Es₁₀⁰ Fm₁₀⁰ Md₁₀⁰ No₁₀⁰ Lr₁₀⁰ Rf₁₀⁰ Db₁₀⁰ Sg₁₀⁰ Bh₁₀⁰ Hs₁₀⁰ Mt₁₀⁰ Ds₁₀⁰ Rg₁₀⁰ Cn₁₀⁰ Nh₁₀⁰ Fl₁₀⁰ Mc₁₀⁰ Lv₁₀⁰ Ts₁₀⁰ Og₁₀⁰ according to estimates of abundance.

The title text is probably referencing gravity, because for the most part most of mentioned atoms would be "held together" only by gravity, and it is a very weak bond indeed.

Transcript

This is one of 40 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[A long panel with a chemical formula trailing off the right side]

C_10⁷⁶ H_10⁸⁰ Ac_10⁶⁷ Ag_10⁶⁹ Al_10⁷⁵ Am_10²⁶ Ar_10⁷⁵ As_10⁷⁰ At_10⁴⁷ Au_10⁶⁹ B_10⁷¹ Ba_10⁷⁰ Be

[Caption below the panel:] The approximate chemical formula for the universe

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Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.

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This is a test. PoolloverNathan^{[stalk the blue seas]} 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 08:40) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

^furhhfghure _{guyrburgryhuyvfr} "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

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	Soup

	Soup

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yum yum [citation needed]

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

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More testing: hello ​ does​this​work (yes​it​does) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
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Recent comments:

29 January 2026

		06:04	Talk:3200: Chemical Formula‎‎ (9 changes | history) . . (+2,475)‎ . . [99.109.3.237‎; 81.179.199.253‎; 8.17.60.225‎; 2a02:810d:9b99:7800:decb:cada:b418:2f1a‎; 174.94.104.215‎; 1234231587678‎ (2×); 208.59.176.206‎ (2×)]
		m	06:04 (cur | prev) . . (+103)‎ . . 1234231587678 (talk | contribs)
		m	06:04 (cur | prev) . . (+155)‎ . . 1234231587678 (talk | contribs)
			05:58 (cur | prev) . . (+434)‎ . . 2a02:810d:9b99:7800:decb:cada:b418:2f1a (talk) (Added a comment)
			05:34 (cur | prev) . . (+211)‎ . . 174.94.104.215 (talk) (comment)
			04:19 (cur | prev) . . (+227)‎ . . 8.17.60.225 (talk) (Potential 302 compound citation)
			03:50 (cur | prev) . . (+71)‎ . . 208.59.176.206 (talk)
			03:48 (cur | prev) . . (+284)‎ . . 208.59.176.206 (talk)
			00:50 (cur | prev) . . (+45)‎ . . 99.109.3.237 (talk) (making the obligatory callback to What If...?)
			00:16 (cur | prev) . . (+945)‎ . . 81.179.199.253 (talk)

28 January 2026

		N    23:45	Talk:3200: Chemical Formula‎‎ (11 changes | history) . . (+3,025)‎ . . [Alexei Kopylov‎; TheusafBOT‎; DollarStoreBa'al‎; BunsenH‎; 2a00:6020:479f:6c00:d587:ac2a:d1e2:26a9‎; 2001:4c4e:1c09:ec00:7932:264e:a9e0:8ed0‎; 2001:41d0:8:5062::1‎; 2001:16b8:cc03:e100:8552:6543:7cf4:9ae7‎; 147.81.60.76‎; Dextrous Fred‎ (2×)]
			23:45 (cur | prev) . . (+506)‎ . . Alexei Kopylov (talk | contribs) (Amount of americium)
			23:20 (cur | prev) . . (+435)‎ . . BunsenH (talk | contribs) (registered isomers?)
			22:46 (cur | prev) . . (+325)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs)
			21:38 (cur | prev) . . (+585)‎ . . 2001:4c4e:1c09:ec00:7932:264e:a9e0:8ed0 (talk)
			21:12 (cur | prev) . . (+255)‎ . . 147.81.60.76 (talk)
			21:08 (cur | prev) . . (+131)‎ . . 2a00:6020:479f:6c00:d587:ac2a:d1e2:26a9 (talk)
			20:57 (cur | prev) . . (+228)‎ . . 2001:16b8:cc03:e100:8552:6543:7cf4:9ae7 (talk)
		m	20:37 (cur | prev) . . (+1)‎ . . Dextrous Fred (talk | contribs)
		m	20:37 (cur | prev) . . (+297)‎ . . Dextrous Fred (talk | contribs)
			20:20 (cur | prev) . . (+149)‎ . . 2001:41d0:8:5062::1 (talk)
		N	20:02 (cur | prev) . . (+113)‎ . . TheusafBOT (talk | contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3200)

		17:44	Talk:3199: Early Arthropods‎‎ (6 changes | history) . . (+118)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎; 45.178.1.151‎; Elizium23‎ (2×); 82.132.238.49‎ (2×)]
			17:44 (cur | prev) . . (+118)‎ . . 82.132.238.49 (talk)
			16:09 (cur | prev) . . (+181)‎ . . 82.132.238.49 (talk) (No justification given.)
		m	15:27 (cur | prev) . . (-269)‎ . . Elizium23 (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 404438 by 82.13.184.33 (talk))
			11:33 (cur | prev) . . (+269)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk) (Undo revision 404431 by Elizium23 (talk) Deleting people's comments is rude)
		m	05:35 (cur | prev) . . (-269)‎ . . Elizium23 (talk | contribs) (removed off-topic)
			05:13 (cur | prev) . . (+88)‎ . . 45.178.1.151 (talk)

		16:10	Talk:3196: Aurora Coolness‎‎ (4 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎; 82.132.238.49‎; Elizium23‎ (2×)]
			16:10 (cur | prev) . . (+1,980)‎ . . 82.132.238.49 (talk) (Nope.)
		m	15:27 (cur | prev) . . (-1,980)‎ . . Elizium23 (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 404437 by 82.13.184.33 (talk))
			11:32 (cur | prev) . . (+1,980)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk) (Undo revision 404432 by Elizium23 (talk) Off-topic is good)
		m	05:36 (cur | prev) . . (-1,980)‎ . . Elizium23 (talk | contribs) (removed off-topic)

		15:49	Talk:2394: Contiguous 41 States‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [Elizium23‎; 82.132.238.49‎]
			15:49 (cur | prev) . . (+140)‎ . . 82.132.238.49 (talk) (Undo revision 404429 by Elizium23 (talk) A bit uncouth (*possibly* in jest), and has newlines that aren't needed, but not a reason to revoke it.)
		m	04:17 (cur | prev) . . (-140)‎ . . Elizium23 (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 404417 by 74.114.84.56 (talk))

		12:51	Talk:2546: Fiction vs Nonfiction‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+800)‎ . . [2001:4c4e:1c09:ec00:7932:264e:a9e0:8ed0‎ (2×)]
			12:51 (cur | prev) . . (+4)‎ . . 2001:4c4e:1c09:ec00:7932:264e:a9e0:8ed0 (talk)
			12:51 (cur | prev) . . (+796)‎ . . 2001:4c4e:1c09:ec00:7932:264e:a9e0:8ed0 (talk) (FNF or FF)

27 January 2026

		19:51	Talk:1492: Dress Color‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+119)‎ . . [81.179.199.253‎; 47.28.76.207‎]
			19:51 (cur | prev) . . (+52)‎ . . 81.179.199.253 (talk)
			18:23 (cur | prev) . . (+67)‎ . . 47.28.76.207 (talk) (no illusion)

		19:46	Talk:3199: Early Arthropods‎‎ (10 changes | history) . . (+1,705)‎ . . [Nitpicking‎; 81.179.199.253‎; 2601:246:4a00:3e80:7401:681f:825e:af7e‎; 160.39.41.199‎; Cphoenix‎ (2×); 82.13.184.33‎ (4×)]
			19:46 (cur | prev) . . (+131)‎ . . 81.179.199.253 (talk)
			17:27 (cur | prev) . . (+153)‎ . . 2601:246:4a00:3e80:7401:681f:825e:af7e (talk)
			16:32 (cur | prev) . . (+34)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			16:31 (cur | prev) . . (+120)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
		m	12:20 (cur | prev) . . (+224)‎ . . Nitpicking (talk | contribs) (Arachnocampa luminosa)
			10:45 (cur | prev) . . (+208)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			10:31 (cur | prev) . . (+91)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			04:44 (cur | prev) . . (+177)‎ . . 160.39.41.199 (talk)
		m	04:39 (cur | prev) . . (+9)‎ . . Cphoenix (talk | contribs) (Tweaking my own comment)
			04:37 (cur | prev) . . (+558)‎ . . Cphoenix (talk | contribs) (Comment on early Cnidarians paralleling this comic's structure, with a reference to my published paper about a possible trigger for the Cambrian Explosion.)

18:44

Talk:2394: Contiguous 41 States‎ (diff | hist) . . (+140)‎ . . 74.114.84.56 (talk)

14:21

Talk:2184: Unpopular Opinions‎ (diff | hist) . . (+189)‎ . . 2600:1700:3d40:70f0:850e:ebbf:618f:a9fc (talk)

09:43

Talk:3198: Double-Pronged Extension Cord‎ (diff | hist) . . (+150)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

07:49

Talk:1717: Pyramid Honey‎ (diff | hist) . . (+155)‎ . . 2604:2d80:ab87:b700::c7 (talk)