A Million Dollars vs A Billion Dollars, Visualized: A Road Trip

There are lots of ways to compare a million to a billion, but most of them use volume. And I think that's a mistake, because volume just isn't something the human brain is great at. So instead, here's the difference between a million and a billion, in a more one-dimensional way: distance.

REFERENCES:

FAQ:
Q: Is this accurate?
A: Yes. The GPS track on the GoPro wasn't great, though, so the walking sections had to be manually smoothed out. For the main car drive, I relied on a backup GPS tracker taking a sample every 1 second. That data was loaded into an After Effects expression, set to $1 per 0.1093mm. If it couldn't pick up a GPS reading (for example, in the Chestfield Tunnel), it waited until signal returned and then calculated an average speed for the gap. There was one correction: during a stop next to a large lorry, the GPS lost tracking and wandered about 50m in a random pattern while the car was completely at a halt. Those errors were removed.

Q: Why is this in 50fps?
A: The electricity grid in the UK runs at 50Hz, which means that you can get strobing effects from lighting. Normally that wouldn't matter on something filmed outside, and I'd go with 60fps, but I didn't want to risk full-screen strobing in the tunnel section. (You do still see strobing on some variable message signs, but that's for different technical reasons.) As 24/25fps feels too slow and jerky for a continuous dashcam shot, this was the best option.

Q: Why did you do this with American dollars in the UK?
A: The Bank of England doesn't produce a £1 note. The smallest paper money we have is £5. (The Royal Bank of Scotland, and the banks of some of the Channel Islands, do though!) And while it would have been apt to do this along desert roads in California, sometimes you've got to make do with what's available.

Q: What was that "oops" about a minute into the drive?
A: I nearly turned left one junction too soon, which would have sent me to a closed barrier and ruined the take.

Q: Why do you change lanes so much?

Q: You pass a van on the left at one point. Is that legal?

Q: What do those white signs with a black stripe mean?
A: "National speed limit applies". On dual carriageways ("divided highways"), that means 70mph; on other roads, it's lower. Alas, it does not mean "no speed limit" like it does on the German autobahn.

Q: What does the signs with the white C in a red circle mean?
A: Those are reminders about the Dart Charge, the £2.50 toll for crossing the Thames at Dartford.

Q: How many attempts did this take?
A: Three. Attempt one was ruined by the time of day: I was travelling east in the morning -- so all the camera could see was glare from the sun and the dashboard reflected in the windscreen. Attempt two was ruined by the camera overheating shortly after the Dartford Crossing. (That's why this is in 2.7k, not 4k, and why you can hear wind noise from the air conditioning blowing over the camera to keep it cool.)

Q: How can this be an FAQ when you wrote it before the video went live?
A: In this case, "FAQ" stands for "Fully Anticipated Questions".

Q: What's your route?
00:00 Introduction
02:14 Leaving Dagenham
06:03 A13 Eastbound
12:43 Mar Dyke Interchange
14:26 A282
16:07 Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
20:50 A2 Eastbound
30:16 M2 Eastbound
53:36 Thanet Way Eastbound
1:08:09 A28 towards Margate
1:12:09 Local roads towards Margate
1:14:39 Ah good, the sea
1:17:29 Conclusion

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[TomScottGo]

There's an FAQ about this if you pull down the description, because I figure there'll be some questions about how this was all put together!

[asherdewitte]

You know you’ve made it when you can sit at a red light in total silence and still maintain viewers

[ncot_tech]

“What about a trillion dollars?”
*attaches camera to head*
*takes off shoes*
*starts wading into the sea*

[joel_the_ai]

Why did I expect him to speak through the entire road trip

[sirkittens]

I think the best way I've ever heard the distinction summed up is:
"What's the difference between a million and a billion? About a billion."

Because it's fully true. The difference between a million and a billion is 0.999 billion, which feels so close to 1 that the difference might as well not be there at all. Compared to a billion, a million is practically nothing.

[Mrsteam]

It was all just an excuse so Tom could go to the beach and write it off as a business expense

[CountD]

Much respect that Tom was dedicated enough to the one-shot that this was the third take. $2 Billion worth of footage wasted

[jaybruce]

Tom's car's HUD scrolls up money for distance travelled almost as quickly as an Aberdeen Taxi meter.

[zickbone]

the one thing that made me realize just how insane a billion is, was this comparison "1 million seconds is 11 days, 1 billion seconds is 32 YEARS"

[ensuverna]

"How fast are we driving right now?"

"About a billion dollars an hour."

[OuroborosChoked]

Finally, my life's dream has been achieved: a long car ride with Tom Scott in awkward silence.

[Owen-zmsq]

This is the perfect representation of the disparity of wealth. I could live VERY comfortably for 10-20 years off of a million or 2. The difference between that and a billion is inconceivable almost.

[StoneWeevil]

Alternate Title: _"You misbehaved at the shop and now your disapproving father is driving you home in awkward silence" ASMR_

[anuel]

it's MY sleepover and I get to choose the movie.

[johannp]

Taxi drivers calculating their price be like...

[glossaria]

One of the things this teaches me is that I am NOT ready to attempt driving in a country that drives on the left side of the road. I had a couple of moments of panic-by-proxy when you turned into what felt to me like a lane of oncoming traffic.

Also, I'm amazed at just how many wind turbines are casually dotting the landscape. I never realized how big wind power was in Britain.

[makesthingsxyz]

Am I the only one who wishes this could be Tom Scott making casual conversation and rambling about random money and quantity facts for an hour in the car?

[nephirion]

An excellent visualisation of the insane cost of petrol in the UK.

[chabb]

Can we all take a minute to appreciate that Tom didn't insult anyone on the road for a whole 1h trip ?

[fabian.f]

Now imagine spending 42 of these and only getting Twitter in exchange.