The following is a nice thoughtful story by the outstanding student, Zahraa Hasan.

I have been told at high school that the genome of one person can reach the moon and back to earth and I want to see if that is true.

To find if the genome can reach the moon, I must first calculate the length of the genome in one cell then multiply it by the number of cells in a human body. Then I must divide that number by 3.84 x 10⁵ km (the distance between the Earth and the moon in km).

Given:

1. Human haploid cells contain 3 billion base-pairs (3×10⁹ bp).
2. Humans are diploid organisms.
3. A diploid human cell contains 6 billion base-pairs (6×10⁹ bp).
4. The distance between the basepairs in a B-DNA (the one that is found in a human body) is 0.34 nm (0.34×10^-9 m).
5. The estimated number of cells in a human body is 37.2 trillion cells (37.2×10¹² cells).
6. The distance between the earth and the moon is only 3.84 x 10⁵ km

Length of DNA in 1 haploid cell: (3×10⁹ bp)*( 0.34×10^-9 m) = 1.02 m

Length of DNA in 1 diploid cell: (6×10⁹ bp)*( 0.34×10^-9 m) = 2.04 m

Length of DNA in all human diploid cells:

(2.04×10^-3 km/diploid cell)*(37.2x 10¹² diploid cells) = 7.59×10¹⁰ km

or

(6×10^⁹ bp)*(0.34nm/bp)*(37.2×10¹² cell/human body) = 7.59×10¹⁰ km

Going to moon: (7.59×10¹⁰) ÷ (3.84×10⁵) ≈ 197,656 times

Going to the moon and coming back: 197,656/2 ≈ 98,828 times

It means that the genome of one person can go to the moon and come back to earth 98,828 times!!!