Bits to Bytes: Data Storage Conversion

After the power of Google, the second most valuable company on the planet, and the origin of its name through the number googol, a 1 followed by 100 zeros, the next logical exploration was the size of data.

 

A Bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses (ones and zeros, or on and off, respectively). A Byte is equal to 8 Bits which represents one character (like A, or r, or !, etc.). 100 Bytes would equal an average sentence. A Kilobyte is 1,000 Bytes (actually 1,024 depending on which definition we use). 100 Kilobytes would equal an entire page.

 

My first computer purchased in 1984 was a Macintosh 512K which was equivalent to roughly 500,000 Bytes of storage. I showed the children my current computer, a MacBook Pro, with 250 Gigabytes of hard drive is equivalent to 250 billion Bytes of storage or 500,000 times more powerful than my first computer. We looked at a hard drive with 500 Gigabytes of storage, 1 million times more powerful than my first computer, and then I showed them a 1 Terabyte hard drive which is 2 million times more powerful than my first computer. The first page of the pdf has an explanation of each denomination of data from Bits to Geopbytes. I Geopbyte is equivalent to around 1 nonillion Bytes (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). The entire internet takes up one Yottabyte, which is equivalent to 1,000,000 Exabytes (all of the words ever spoken by mankind). 

 

I created two multiplication tables converting all of these denominations of data. The first one converts one of each. For example, 1 Byte = 8 Bits, 1 Gigabyte = 1,000 Megabytes, 1 Terabyte = 1,000,000,000 Kilobytes. I encouraged the children to record this information in three different ways. They could choose either 1 billion = 1,000,000,000 = 10^9. The first is the spelled out form, the second is standard form, and the third is scientific notation. They could even record Bits in scientific notation such as 8 x 10^9 to represent 8 billion. The second multiplication table records 8 of each denomination of data. So 8,000 Bytes = 64,000 Bits.

 

The weekly challenge is for the children to research the storage capacity of each of their electronic devices such as computers, hard drives, iPads, minis, phones, xbox, Wii, Kindle, Nook. I showed them how I found the capacity of my devices (usually settings, General, About for Apple products). 

 

I am not so concerned if they are off by three place values when working on the multiplication tables. The challenge is for them to get used to working with grids (horizontal and vertical axis). For them to see the progression of each denomination of data going up by 1 to 1,000, to 1,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 and so on, is enough. 

 

I also gave the several disk storage conversion charts as well as fun facts such as:

 

1. Google hopes to index 100 Petabytes of information in the near future, equivalent to half of all material every printed in human history.

2. If it took you one minute to search each page on Google, it would take 38,026 years to look at them all. It takes Google less than .5 seconds.That means that there are over 20 bilion pages on Google's search engine.

3. Within the next year, Google's storage capacity could hit 1 Exabyte, the same as 50,000 years of DVD quality video.

4. The amount of data stored in the world totals 1.2 Zettabytes, which is equal to everyone in the world posting on Twitter non-stop for a century.

 

Some of the 5-7th graders will want to explore the yellow region of my multiplication table where we get into small fractions that can be represented by negative exponents. I will work with certain children individually on this element based on developmental appropriateness.

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Bits_to_Bytes_.pdf1.31 MB