• Question: how many cells are there in a human body?

    Asked by devdon to Daniel, Jon, Louise, Sharon, Zoe on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      This is a hard question to answer as there really is no way to know the exact number of cells in a human body. Can you imagine trying to count them all? Plus,the number will vary from person to person, depending on their size. The number of cells in your own body is constantly changing, as cells die or are destroyed and new ones are formed. So even the number of cells in your own body is not static.

      The closest estimate is that we have 10 to the power 14 cells, which is
      100,000,000,000,000 (100 Trillion)
      If you are to think of how many that is, it’s the equivalent of all the blades of grass on 2 million football pitches..

    • Photo: Louise Dash

      Louise Dash answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Lots!

      I’ll let one of the biologists give you a better answer to this one because actually I have no idea except that it’s a big number. 😉

    • Photo: Jon Copley

      Jon Copley answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I think there are around 100 trillion. But what I think is really amazing is that only 10% or so of them are “yours” – the rest are actually bacteria that live in your gut, or hitch a ride on your skin!

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