Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
1,100,000
cans
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
The Bean is 66 feet long, 42 wide and 33 tall, but it curves in hard and a big arch is scooped out underneath. Call the inside 30,000 cubic feet. How many cans fit in a cubic foot? One is about 3 inches across and 4 tall, so maybe 40.
- Inside the sculpture
- ~30,000 ft³
- Cans per cubic foot
- × 40
- 30,000 × 40
- ≈ 1,200,000
The Bean is 20 meters long, 13 wide and 10 tall, but it curves in hard and a big arch is scooped out underneath. Call the inside 900 cubic meters. How many cans fit in a cubic meter? One is about half a liter, so maybe 1,500 once you count the gaps.
- Inside the sculpture
- ~900 m³
- Cans per cubic meter
- × 1,500
- 900 × 1,500
- ≈ 1,350,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Cloud Gate exterior dimensions
- 66 × 42 × 33 ft
- Interior volume (ellipsoid, less the arch scooped out underneath)
- ≈ 33,500 ft³
- A 16 oz (450 g) can, with the packing gaps counted
- ≈ 32 per ft³
- 33,500 × 32
- ≈ 1,100,000
Reference cited by Fermi: City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Cloud Gate dimensions · standard 16 oz (450 g) can dimensions
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