This Googol Counter Will Tick Away Until the Universe Dies

The company Google is named after a googol, with the intention being to showcase just how much data the search engine could parse. A googol is an incredibly large number — too large for our puny human minds to really comprehend. It is the equivalent of ten raised to the power of 100, or one followed by 100 zeroes. To put that number into perspective, you would need to completely fill 100,000 universes the size of our observable universe with grains of sand in order to end up with a googol grains of sand in total. That is why Sam Battle’s Googol Counter can tick away until the universe itself dies.

Battle, of the LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER YouTube channel, built a counter that ticks one thousand times per second and has the ability to count up to a 10^96 seconds. This counter will reach 14 digits at most in your lifetime. It won’t even be close to reaching the 100th digit when the heat death of the universe happens. Battle’s goal certainly isn’t to count to anything in particular. He simply wanted to build a device that could continue running long after his own demise in the hope that future generations will keep it going as long as possible. That definitely isn’t a trivial undertaking when you consider that this device can potentially continue running long after the human species has died off. That possibility forced Battle to design the device in such a way that it can be repaired without turning off or resetting the count.

To account for future repairs, Battle designed the device with one hundred individual counters. The first counter ticks up once per second using a 555 timer. When that rolls back over from nine to zero, it sends a clock signal to the second counter. That means that the second counter ticks once every ten seconds. The third counter, in turn, ticks once every 100 seconds. Keep extrapolating that math, and you can figure out how long it will take for the 100th counter to tick just once. Battle actually setup the first three counters to tick faster than once per second, so the second counter is really the fourth digit. But he certainly doesn’t have to worry about running out of digits any time soon.

Each counter is its own self-contained device on a PCB, so individual counters can be hot-swapped without turning off the rest of the Googol Counter. Those PCBs can receive power from a variety of sources, so backup power can easily be added. This also accounts for the possibility that future generations may not have access to our primitive power supplies. All over the counters are contained within a large mini fridge-size red acrylic enclosure. As with the electronics, Battle ensured that the enclosure can be repaired or replaced without turning off the counter. As a bonus nod to Battle’s roots as a musician, the Googol Counter even outputs an audio signal that is generated by the counters. That audio sounds appropriately abstract and otherworldly. While the Googol Counter doesn’t have any practical process, it is a really cool way to leave behind a legacy.