while on a road trip to chicago a few years ago, a roomate of mine and
I were discussing what it would cost to move chicago to the moon. This
led us to wonder exactly how much chicago weighs. So, The answer i'm
looking for is: how much does Metro Chicago weigh including all the
buildings, people, cars, asphalt, sewage pipes, hot dogs, clothes,
umbrellas, books, everything. of course this would be an average as
stuff is constantly coming and going. if anyone can answer and justify
their answer i'll give you $10.

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Clarification of Question by afinlay-ga on 27 Aug 2006 03:19 PDT

Ok I guess I should clear some things up...

>How deep? Center of the earth?
However deep the man made elements of Chicago go.

>No West or East Chicago? Just metro?
Just metro

>as of what date?
As of the date of posting the question.

>Now much atmosphere?
only to the top of the tallest building.

>The answer is 2,502,292,328 
When I was in college, my science teachers would count the answer
wrong if I had a number with no units. the same applies here :)

>10 times 20 kilometers = 200
>square kilometers = 200 million square meters, times 5 = one billon
>time, times 0.01 = ten million metric tons or more
That's pretty good, but it seems like you're just gussing on your
starting numbers so that the end comes out even. If you can give me
some real numbers (average density of the building materials used,
height of actual buildings, and actual area of metro chicago) then
you'll have the answer. please include references for data.

How deep? Center of the earth? Down to the liquid core? 

No West or East Chicago? Just metro as of what date?

No Lake Michigan?

Now much atmosphere? All

As redfox suggested, even a rough estimate likely can not be justified
ie let's assume there are 200,000,000 square meters (200 square
kilometers), in what might be concidered Chicago. If the average
heigth is 5 meters and the average density is 0.01, the weight is ten
million metric tons.   Neil

The answer is 2,502,292,328 ...

Like Einstein & Tisme, the answer just came to me.

Hope this helps!

Neil 
that should be ten billion tons 10,000,000,000,005

Hi kemlo: I rechecked my arithmetic: 10 times 20 kilometers = 200
square kilometers = 200 million square meters, times 5 = one billon
time, times 0.01 = ten million metric tons or more, as some of my
assumptions are likely low, but not that low.  Neil

Ok I guess I should clear some things up...

>How deep? Center of the earth?
However deep the man made elements of Chicago go.

>No West or East Chicago? Just metro?
Just metro

>as of what date?
As of the date of posting the question.

>Now much atmosphere?
only to the top of the tallest building.

>The answer is 2,502,292,328 
When I was in college, my science teachers would count the answer
wrong if I had a number with no units. the same applies here :)

>10 times 20 kilometers = 200
>square kilometers = 200 million square meters, times 5 = one billon
>time, times 0.01 = ten million metric tons or more
That's pretty good, but it seems like you're just gussing on your
starting numbers so that the end comes out even. If you can give me
some real numbers (average density of the building materials used,
height of actual buildings, and actual area of metro chicago) then
you'll have the answer. please include references for data.