What does a certain sum of money look like?

When you think about a certain sum of money, specially big numbers, the first thing that comes to mind isn't how it looks. It's usually how much it's worth.

First you need to know :

It starts with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Everyone has seen them, slightly fewer have owned them. 

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. It is enough for a very short lived splurge.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million worth of bills (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it. Now this will give you a prolonged splurge.

While $1 million doesn't look that impressive $100 million can allow you to splurge on life. Here we are talking about the rich and famous, movie stars and pro athletes but a very small number of them, only the very best.

1 billion bux... now we're getting somewhere... another 8.4 of these and you can imagine how much Skype coat Microsoft. Another 56 of those and you will become as rich as Bill Gates.

And finally..

$1 trillion dollars… The US military budget for 2012...

Notice the pallets are double stacked. ...and remember those are $100 bills. The next time you hear military toss the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.