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I was listening to “Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goal Post of Life" and considering how useful it would be if there were kicking dogs; these would be like seeing-dogs and hearing-dogs, but they would sail through the air in a graceful arc, yelping as an aid to relieving the owner’s frustration.
In the way that things do, this turned into a thought about the old Patriarchs – Moses, Abraham, Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1–3), etc. and how, at times in the Wilderness (or wherever they were) they considered the question, “How many angels can dance on a pinhead?”
The importance of this question cannot be overemphasized – it goes to the very heart of our Faith. We know that angels appear and disappear, sing, dance, some may have flaming swords, wings, extra heads, eyes, horns, etc., and others generally act as God’s mailmen, heavies, and Fox News announcers. And they come in all shapes and sizes, BUT however small or large, they have a quality about them that can be easily perceived as “angelly”.
Now, times have advanced and we may be able better to come to the idea of how many there were on that pinhead. I tried to call our own Dr E. De Ville and Dr Bessemer but both were busy informing the world of how the Earth is flat otherwise there might have been evolution, so I was left on my own but I had Jesus for inspiration.
I measured a few pinheads and found their radius to be about the same size, which I called ‘R’ (~0.06”)
I then considered the fact that Angels appear anywhere, so they have to be able to pass through walls, therefore they are incorporeal (but yet can pick up and wield a sword without it falling through their hands) I then argued that Angels could not occupy the area that was already fully occupied by another angel, otherwise they would be the same angel.
From this, it is clear that two angels may occupy a space that is one angel wide plus the thickness of the skin of an angel. From here, it is simple math to work out
The thickness of the skin on the upper arms is 0.04”, but then you have to reduce this in proportion to the size of a tiny angel, so that hundreds of angels can dance on a pinhead, BUT it can be only reduced to a point at which the soul (if they have one) and humors could leak out of the body.
(It is obvious that there has to be quite a few angels who can dance on a pinhead otherwise this would never have bothered the Patriarchs, Isaac would have just thought, “Meh – about 4”)
Now I was stuck at this point, until I realised that I could just call this thickness ‘T’ – The problem is therefore solved:
A = (π*R^2)/(T^2) and as π = 3,
Then
The number of angels that can dance on a pinhead is 3 x the radius squared of a pinhead/The minimum thickness squared of angel skin.
So, using real-life figures, we have
A= 3*(0.06^2)/(0.04*10^-4)^2 = 2,700,000,000
I bet Moses, Abraham, Mahershalalhashbaz and Isaiah, etc would have been amazed.
In the way that things do, this turned into a thought about the old Patriarchs – Moses, Abraham, Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1–3), etc. and how, at times in the Wilderness (or wherever they were) they considered the question, “How many angels can dance on a pinhead?”
The importance of this question cannot be overemphasized – it goes to the very heart of our Faith. We know that angels appear and disappear, sing, dance, some may have flaming swords, wings, extra heads, eyes, horns, etc., and others generally act as God’s mailmen, heavies, and Fox News announcers. And they come in all shapes and sizes, BUT however small or large, they have a quality about them that can be easily perceived as “angelly”.
Now, times have advanced and we may be able better to come to the idea of how many there were on that pinhead. I tried to call our own Dr E. De Ville and Dr Bessemer but both were busy informing the world of how the Earth is flat otherwise there might have been evolution, so I was left on my own but I had Jesus for inspiration.
I measured a few pinheads and found their radius to be about the same size, which I called ‘R’ (~0.06”)
I then considered the fact that Angels appear anywhere, so they have to be able to pass through walls, therefore they are incorporeal (but yet can pick up and wield a sword without it falling through their hands) I then argued that Angels could not occupy the area that was already fully occupied by another angel, otherwise they would be the same angel.
From this, it is clear that two angels may occupy a space that is one angel wide plus the thickness of the skin of an angel. From here, it is simple math to work out
The thickness of the skin on the upper arms is 0.04”, but then you have to reduce this in proportion to the size of a tiny angel, so that hundreds of angels can dance on a pinhead, BUT it can be only reduced to a point at which the soul (if they have one) and humors could leak out of the body.
(It is obvious that there has to be quite a few angels who can dance on a pinhead otherwise this would never have bothered the Patriarchs, Isaac would have just thought, “Meh – about 4”)
Now I was stuck at this point, until I realised that I could just call this thickness ‘T’ – The problem is therefore solved:
A = (π*R^2)/(T^2) and as π = 3,
Then
The number of angels that can dance on a pinhead is 3 x the radius squared of a pinhead/The minimum thickness squared of angel skin.
So, using real-life figures, we have
A= 3*(0.06^2)/(0.04*10^-4)^2 = 2,700,000,000
I bet Moses, Abraham, Mahershalalhashbaz and Isaiah, etc would have been amazed.
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