The National Debt

On a couple of different occasions, Bill has alluded to the US national debt.  Below are some comparisons that illustrate the actual scale of the debt.

Approximate National Debt (as of 09 Aug 2019): $22,500,000,000,000.00
US Debt Clock: https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Dimensions and Weight of a Dollar Bill
Average thickness of a dollar bill: 0.0043 in / 0.10922 mm
Average length of a dollar bill: 6.14 in / 155.956 mm
Average width of a dollar bill: 2.61 in / 66.294 mm
Average weight of a dollar bill: 0.03527 oz / 1.0 g

Dimensions of the national debt in relation to the size and thickness of dollar bills
A stack of dollar bills the size of the national debt would be about 1,526,988.64 miles (2,457,450.00 Km) tall.
Laid end to end along their short axes, the dollar bills in the national debt would measure 926,846,590.91 miles (1,491,615,000.00 Km).
Laid end to end along their long axes, the dollar bills in the national debt would measure 2,180,397,727.27 miles (3,509,010,000.00 Km).
The dollar bills in the national debt weigh about 49,604,014,459.50 pounds, or 24,802,007.23 tons (22,500,000,000.00 Kg, or 22,500,000.00 metric tons).

The size of the national debt in relation to a football field
Area of a football field including the end zones: 57,600.0 sq yds / 52,669.44 sq m
It takes about 4,658,206 dollar bills to cover a football field including the end zones.
If you covered an area the size of a football field with the national debt, the stack would be 1,730.82 feet (527.55 meters) tall.
The national debt, spread over an entire football field would be about 1.19 times the height of the Empire State building.
The national debt, spread over an entire football field would be about 97.456% the height of the Freedom Tower.

The size of the national debt in relation to the Empire State building
The height of the Empire State building to the tip of its antenna: 1,454.0 ft / 443.1792 m
The base of the Empire State building: 424 ft X 187 ft / 129.2352 m x 56.9976 m
The area of the base of the Empire State building: 79,288.0 sq ft / 7,366.0962 sq m
It takes about 712,461 dollar bills to cover the base of the Empire State building.
If you covered an area the size of the base of the Empire State building with the national debt, the stack of bills would be about 11,316.41 feet (3,449.24 m) tall.
That stack of bills would be about 38.98% the height of Mt. Everest at 29,029 ft. (8848.0392 m).

The size of the national debt in relation to the Freedom Tower
Height of the Freedom Tower: 1,776.0 ft / 541.3248 m
The base of the Freedom Tower: 200 ft X 200 ft / 60.96 m X 60.96 m
The area of the base of the Freedom Tower: 40,000.0 sq ft / 3,716.122 sq m
It takes about 359,430 dollar bills to cover the base of the Freedom Tower.
If you covered an area the size of the base of the Freedom Tower with the national debt, the stack of bills would be about 22,431.35 feet (6,837.08 m) tall.
That stack of bills would be about 77.27% the height of Mt. Everest at 29,029 ft. (8848.0392 m).

The size of the national debt in relation to Central Park, NYC
The area of Central Park in NYC: 843 acres, or 1.3172 sq. miles, or 36,721,080.0 sq. ft. (341.15 hectares, or 3.4115 sq. Km, or 3,411,499.964 sq. m).
It takes about 329,965,900 dollar bills to cover Central Park.
If you covered an area the size of Central Park with the national debt, the stack of bills would be about 24.43 ft. (7.45 m) tall.

The size of the national debt in relation to distances and weights on Earth
Circumference of the Earth at the equator: 24,860.0 miles / 40,008.29184 Km
A stack of dollar bills the size of the national debt would circle the Earth about 61.42 times.
Laid end to end along their short axes, the dollar bills in the national debt would circle the Earth about 37,282.65 times.
Laid end to end along their long axes, the dollar bills in the national debt would circle the Earth about 87,707.07 times.
A fully loaded Ford class aicraft carrier weighs about 224,000,000 lbs, or 112,000 tons, or 100,000 long tons (101,604,679.68 Kg, or 101,604.68 metric tons).
The national debt weighs as much as 221.45 fully loaded Ford class aircraft carriers.

The size of the national debt in relation to the state of Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island has an area of about 1,212.34 sq. miles, or 775,900 acres (3,139.96 sq. Km, or 313,995.59 hectares).
It takes about 303,701,709,537 dollar bills to cover the state of Rhode Island.
If you covered the state of Rhode Island with the national debt, the stack of bills would be about 0.32 inches (8.09 mm) tall.

The size of the national debt in relation to the state of Texas
The state of Texas has an area of about 268,597.0 sq. miles, or 171,902,080.0 acres (695,663.0365 sq. Km, or 69,566,303.6472 hectares).
It takes about 67,285,675,433,450 dollar bills to cover the state of Texas.
The current national debt is enough to cover 33.4395% of the state of Texas in dollar bills.

The size of the national debt in relation to the distances from the Earth to the Moon
Distance to moon at perigee: 225,623.0 miles / 363,105.0 Km
Distance to moon at apogee: 252,088.0 miles / 405,696.3 Km
With the moon at perigee (closest to Earth), a stack of dollar bills the size of the national debt is tall enough to make about 3.38 round trips. (One round trip is to the moon and back)
With the moon at apogee (farthest from Earth), a stack of dollar bills the size of the national debt is tall enough to make about 3.03 round trips.

The size of the national debt in relation to distances from the Sun
The distance from the Sun to Saturn is about 890,800,000 miles (1,434,000,000 Km).
The distance from the Sun to Uranus is about 1,784,000,000 miles (2,871,000,000 Km).
The distance from the Sun to Neptune is about 2,793,000,000 (4,495,000,000 Km).
Laid end to end along their short axes, the dollar bills in the national debt would reach from the sun to about 4.01% the distance between Saturn and Uranus.
Laid end to end along their long axes, the dollar bills in the national debt would reach from the sun to about 39.29% the distance between Uranus and Neptune.

The size of the national debt in relation to the speed of light in a vacuum
The speed of light in a vacuum: 186,282.397051221 miles per scond / 299,792.458 Km per second
It would take a photon of light about 8.20 seconds to travel the height of a stack of dollar bills the size of the national debt.
It would take a photon of light about 1.38 hours to travel the length of dollar bills in the national debt when laid end to end along their short axes.
It would take a photon of light about 3.25 hours to travel the length of dollar bills in the national debt when laid end to end along their long axes.