The Penny

The Penny is a channel joke involving a penny that grows exponentially. It was (extremely hesitantly) first mentioned in a stream on September 3, 2018. The stream was later edited into the video "Would this penny destroy the earth?", spreading it to SimpleFlips' main YouTube audience.

History

The Penny is based on a problem about compound interest that is variantly phrased as a fable or a trick question: "Would you rather have one million dollars, or a penny that doubles everyday for a month?"

Our father SimpleFlips modified the question to imply that, rather than doubling in quantity or value, the penny will double in size every day. He also removed the time constraint, allowing the Penny to grow without bound. Such a penny would eventually destroy the Earth, and possibly the universe.

SimpleFlips claims that this penny has ruined entire Twitch chats, focusing all attention towards theorizing about it. These theories include plans to outlive or destroy the Penny, and speculation on properties like its monetary worth, size, weight, and theological implications.

Current size

As of April 8, 2024, it has been 2,044 days since the Penny was first mentioned.

Each of the Penny's dimensions, even thickness, exceed the diameter of the observable universe on an order of magnitude of hundreds. In combination, the Penny has well over 10^1 000 times the volume of the observable universe.

These numbers are too large for MediaWiki to calculate. They must be calculated and updated manually.

Measurement	Original	After t days	May 26, 2022
Diameter	3⁄4 in.	$\frac{3}{4} \mathrm{in.} \times 2^{t}$	5.96 × 10404 mi
	19.05 mm	$19.05 \mathrm{mm} \times 2^{t}$	9.59 × 10404 km
Surface area	≈ 0.44 in.2	$\pi \cdot \left( \frac{3}{8} \mathrm{in.} \cdot 2^{t} \right) ^2$	2.79 × 10809 mi2
	≈ 2.85 cm2	$\pi \cdot \left( 9.525 \mathrm{mm} \cdot 2^{t} \right) ^2$	7.22 × 10809 km2
Thickness	1.52 mm	$1.52 \mathrm{mm} \times 2^{t}$	7.65 × 10403 km
Volume	≈ 433.23 mm3	$\pi \cdot \left( 9.525 \mathrm{mm} \cdot 2^{t} \right) ^2 \cdot 1.52 \mathrm{mm}$	1.76 × 101213 km3
Weight	2.5 g	Unclear

Theories

• How could someone survive or outlive the Penny?
• How much is the Penny worth?
  • As it is still a penny, it may still be worth US$0.01.
  • The discrepancy between the official specification and the Penny's size may cause it to lose purchasing power.
  • This may be a moot point, as the copper in a penny is already more valuable than 1¢, and pennies cost more to make than they are worth.
  • Therefore, maybe pennies already destroy the Earth. This was a warning all along.
• How much does the Penny weigh after a given time?
  • It is debatable whether the Penny's mass changes along with its size.
  • Assuming the Penny's weight changes, could it collapse under its own weight?
• Would religions form around the Penny?
• Does the atomic structure of the Penny increase in size, or does the Penny's expansion generate new matter at a normal scale?
  • If the atoms grow, the Penny would eventually become mostly empty space on a macroscopic level.
  • The Earth would probably still be destroyed first, but distant worlds may be spared.
• Does the Penny change size continuously, or does it rapidly grow once per day?

Ways to stop the Penny

These are theories for ways in which the Penny could be destroyed, or its growth could otherwise be stopped.

• Putting the Penny in the bank and then canceling the account.
  • SimpleFlips immediately rejected this on the grounds that "No storage unit for this penny exists that could contain it."
• Swallowing the Penny.
  • Simple and Foxen agreed that this would not forestall its growth. Rather, the Penny could destroy the consumer more quickly if not excreted in time.
  • In the best case, the consumer would have bragging rights in their final moments that the Penny was inside of them.
  • Feeding the Penny to Foxen would yield the same result, aside from SimpleFlips also being given jail time.
• Throwing the Penny in a wishing well and wishing for it to disappear.
  • Foxen dismissed this as "just lazy".
• Melting the Penny.
  • Note that the endcard uses this as an open-ended question, not posing it specifically as a means of the Penny's destruction.
• Moving the Penny into a black hole could potentially destroy it.
  • However, this process may make the black hole exponentially grow instead, which would arguably be a worse situation.
  • Would the Penny collapse into a black hole on its own?
• Would the Penny stop growing if it is no longer a penny?
  • Several of the methods above could cause this, such as being melted, collapsing under its own weight, or not being considered legal tender.
• Changing the concept of a day may alter or stop the Penny's rate of growth.
  • For instance, it could be sent to another planet where days are longer.
    • If it were floating out in space, or on a planet without a local sun, there would be no local sense of days.
    • What would happen if the Penny were on a planet with multiple suns?
  • The day is a human invention. Could humans collectively agree to abolish the day?
    • Even then, would the Penny keep growing due to the concept of the day remaining in our collective cultural psyche? What is the cutoff point for days being "real"?
    • Maybe the Penny would stop growing after wiping out humanity, or all other evidence of the Earth day.
• Accelerating the Penny to the speed of light could slow its expansion.
  • Given enough time, its own growth would exceed the speed of light. What would happen if the Penny tried to expand at this rate?
• Sending the Penny to GBJ.
• There is no way. The Penny is indestructible.