Orders of magnitude (length)
Encyclopedia
Section | | Range (m) | | Unit | | Example Items | |
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Subatomic | 0 | 10−15 | am | electron Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton... , quark Quark A quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly... , string String (physics) A string is a hypothetical vibrating one-dimensional sub-atomic structure and one of the main objects of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics. There are different string theories, many of which are unified by M-theory. A string is an object with a one-dimensional spatial extent,... , Planck length |
Atomic to cellular | 10−15 | 10−12 | fm | proton Proton The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number.... , neutron Neutron The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of... |
10−12 | 10−9 | pm | wavelength Wavelength In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a... of gamma ray Gamma ray Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei... s and X-ray X-ray X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma... s, hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly... atom |
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10−9 | 10−6 | nm | DNA DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in... helix Helix A helix is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases. A "filled-in" helix – for... , virus Virus A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea... , wavelength of optical spectrum |
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Human scale | 10−6 | 10−3 | µm Micrometre A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm... |
bacterium, fog Fog Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated... water droplet, human hair |
10−3 | 100 | mm | mosquito Mosquito Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly... , golf ball Golf ball A golf ball is a ball designed to be used in the game of golf.Under the Rules of Golf, a golf ball weighs no more than 1.620 oz , has a diameter not less than 1.680 in , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits... , football (soccer ball) |
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100 | 103 | m | human being, football (soccer) field, Eiffel Tower Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world... |
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103 | 106 | km | Mount Everest Mount Everest Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point... , length of Panama Canal Panama Canal The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6... , larger asteroid Asteroid Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones... |
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Astronomical | 106 | 109 | Mm | the Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... , Earth, one light-second Light-second A light-second is a unit of length useful in astronomy, telecommunications and relativistic physics. It is defined as the distance that light travels in free space in one second, and is equal to exactly 299,792,458 metres... |
109 | 1012 | Gm | Sun Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... , one light-minute, Earth's orbit |
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1012 | 1015 | Tm | orbits of outer planets Outer planets The outer planets are those planets in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, which typically refers to these gas giant planets in order of their distance from the Sun:... , Solar System Solar System The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun... |
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1015 | 1018 | Pm | one light-year Light-year A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres... ; distance to Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star about 4.2 light-years distant in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes, the Director of the Union Observatory in South Africa, and is the nearest known star to the Sun, although it is too faint to be seen with the naked eye... |
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1018 | 1021 | Em | galactic arm | |
1021 | 1024 | Zm | Milky Way Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky... , distance to Andromeda Galaxy Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the... |
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1024 | ∞ Infinity Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity... |
Ym | visible universe |
Detailed list
To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various lengths between 1.6 m and 1.3 m.Subatomic
Factor (m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... ) |
Multiple | Value | Item |
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10−35 | 0.000000000016 ym (1.6 m) | Planck length; size of a hypothetical string String (physics) A string is a hypothetical vibrating one-dimensional sub-atomic structure and one of the main objects of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics. There are different string theories, many of which are unified by M-theory. A string is an object with a one-dimensional spatial extent,... and of branes; according to string theory String theory String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for a theory of everything , a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system... lengths smaller than this do not make any physical Physics Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic... sense. Quantum foam Quantum foam Quantum foam, also referred to as spacetime foam, is a concept in quantum mechanics, devised by John Wheeler in 1955. The foam is supposed to be the foundations of the fabric of the universe. Additionally, it can be used as a qualitative description of subatomic spacetime turbulence at extremely... is thought to exist at this level. |
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10−24 | 1 yoctometre Yoctometre A yoctometre is an SI measure of length that is equal to 10-24 of a metre. A yoctometer is equivalent to 1/100 of the diameter of an electron, and 1/100 000 the diameter of a proton or neutron.... (ym) |
20 ym (2 × 10−23 metres) | effective cross section Cross section (physics) A cross section is the effective area which governs the probability of some scattering or absorption event. Together with particle density and path length, it can be used to predict the total scattering probability via the Beer-Lambert law.... radius of 1 MeV MEV MeV and meV are multiples and submultiples of the electron volt unit referring to 1,000,000 eV and 0.001 eV, respectively.Mev or MEV may refer to:In entertainment:* Musica Elettronica Viva, an Italian musical group... neutrino Neutrino A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected... s |
10−21 | 1 zeptometre (zm) | Preons, hypothetical particles proposed as subcomponents of quarks and leptons; the upper bound for the width of a cosmic string Cosmic string Cosmic strings are hypothetical 1-dimensional topological defects which may have formed during a symmetry breaking phase transition in the early universe when the topology of the vacuum manifold associated to this symmetry breaking is not simply connected. It is expected that at least one string... in string theory. |
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7 zm (7 × 10−21 metres) | effective cross section radius of high energy neutrino Neutrino A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected... s |
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354 zm (3.54 × 10−19 metres) | de Broglie wavelength of protons at the Large Hadron Collider Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature.... (3.5 TeV as of 2011) |
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10−18 | 1 attometre (am) | upper limit for the size of quark Quark A quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly... s and electron Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton... s |
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sensitivity of the LIGO LIGO LIGO, which stands for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a large-scale physics experiment aiming to directly detect gravitational waves. Cofounded in 1992 by Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever of Caltech and Rainer Weiss of MIT, LIGO is a joint project between scientists at MIT,... detector for gravitational wave Gravitational wave In physics, gravitational waves are theoretical ripples in the curvature of spacetime which propagates as a wave, traveling outward from the source. Predicted to exist by Albert Einstein in 1916 on the basis of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves theoretically transport energy as... s |
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upper bound of the typical size range for "fundamental strings String (physics) A string is a hypothetical vibrating one-dimensional sub-atomic structure and one of the main objects of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics. There are different string theories, many of which are unified by M-theory. A string is an object with a one-dimensional spatial extent,... " |
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10−17 | 10 am | range of the weak force | |
10−16 | 100 am | According to Craig Hogan Craig Hogan Craig Hogan is a Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Chicago and he is the director of the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics.... , a scientist from Fermilab Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics... , the predicted scale of resolution of space-time if the universe is assumed to satisfy the holographic principle Holographic principle The holographic principle is a property of quantum gravity and string theories which states that the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on a boundary to the region—preferably a light-like boundary like a gravitational horizon... , a prediction that according to preliminary reports is in agreement with observations at the GEO 600 GEO 600 GEO 600 is a gravitational wave detector located near Sarstedt, Germany. This instrument, and its sister interferometric detectors, when operational, are some of the most sensitive gravitational wave detectors ever designed... detector. |
Atomic to cellular
Image:Wide panorama 1e-15 to 1e-7.png||none|frame|Clickable image. The thumbnails range left to right from 1e-15m to 1e-7m. (Image description)
rect 0 0 74 59 1 E-15m - Click on the relevant thumbnail image to jump to the desired order of length magnitude: left is 1e-15m, right is 1e-8m. Click on information icon bottom-left for description of image.
rect 75 0 149 59 1 E-14 m
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rect 225 0 299 59 1 E-12 m
1 E-12 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−12 m and 10−11 m .Distances shorter than 1 pm* 1 pm = 1 picometre = 1,000 femtometres* 1 pm = distance between atomic nuclei in a white dwarf...
rect 300 0 374 59 1 E-11 m
1 E-11 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−11 m and 10−10 m .Distances shorter than 10 pm* 25 pm — empirical radius of hydrogen atom* 28 pm — covalent radius of helium atom...
rect 375 0 449 59 1 E-10 m
1 E-10 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−10 m and 10−9 m .Distances shorter than 100 pm*100 pm — 1 angstrom*100 pm — covalent radius of sulfur atom...
rect 450 0 524 59 1 E-9 m
1 E-9 m
To help compare different orders of magnitudes this page lists lengths between 10−9 metres and 10−8 metres .Distances shorter than 1 nanometre*1 nm = 1 nanometre = 1000 picometres = 10 angstroms...
rect 525 0 599 59 1 E-8 m
1 E-8 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−8 and 10−7 metres .Distances shorter than 10 nanometres*10 nm = 10 nanometres = 10−8 metres*10 nm — lower size of tobacco smoke...
rect 600 0 674 59 1 E-7 m
1 E-7 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−7 and 10−6 m .Distances shorter than 100 nm*100 nm — greatest particle size that can fit through a surgical mask...
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Factor (m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... ) |
Multiple | Value | Item |
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10−15 | 1 femtometre Femtometre The femtometre is an SI unit of length equal to 10-15 metres. This distance can also be called fermi and was so named in honour of Enrico Fermi and is often encountered in nuclear physics as a characteristic of this scale... (fm) |
1.5 fm | size of an 11 MeV proton Proton The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number.... |
2.81794 fm | classical electron radius Classical electron radius The classical electron radius, also known as the Lorentz radius or the Thomson scattering length, is based on a classical relativistic model of the electron... |
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scale of the atomic nucleus Atomic nucleus The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The... |
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10−14 | 10 fm | ||
10−13 | 100 fm | ||
10−12 | 1 picometre Picometre A picometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one trillionth, i.e. of a metre, which is the current SI base unit of length... (pm) |
... | longest wavelength Wavelength In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a... of gamma ray Gamma ray Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei... s |
2.4 pm | Compton wavelength Compton wavelength The Compton wavelength is a quantum mechanical property of a particle. It was introduced by Arthur Compton in his explanation of the scattering of photons by electrons... of electron Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton... |
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5 pm | wavelength of shortest X-ray X-ray X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma... s |
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10−11 | 10 pm | 25 pm | radius of hydrogen atom Hydrogen atom A hydrogen atom is an atom of the chemical element hydrogen. The electrically neutral atom contains a single positively-charged proton and a single negatively-charged electron bound to the nucleus by the Coulomb force... |
31 pm | radius of helium Helium Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table... atom |
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53 pm | Bohr radius Bohr radius The Bohr radius is a physical constant, approximately equal to the most probable distance between the proton and electron in a hydrogen atom in its ground state. It is named after Niels Bohr, due to its role in the Bohr model of an atom... |
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10−10 | 100 pm | 100 pm (0.1 nm) | 1 Ångström Ångström The angstrom or ångström, is a unit of length equal to 1/10,000,000,000 of a meter . Its symbol is the Swedish letter Å.... (also covalent radius Covalent radius The covalent radius, rcov, is a measure of the size of an atom that forms part of one covalent bond. It is usually measured either in picometres or angstroms , with 1 Å = 100 pm.... of sulfur Sulfur Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow... atom) |
154 pm (0.154 nm) | length of a typical covalent bond Covalent bond A covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms. The stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons is known as covalent bonding.... (C Carbon Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds... –C). |
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500 pm (0.50 nm) | width of protein Protein Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of... α helix Alpha helix A common motif in the secondary structure of proteins, the alpha helix is a right-handed coiled or spiral conformation, in which every backbone N-H group donates a hydrogen bond to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid four residues earlier... |
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10−9 | 1 nanometre Nanometre A nanometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billionth of a metre. The name combines the SI prefix nano- with the parent unit name metre .The nanometre is often used to express dimensions on the atomic scale: the diameter... (nm) |
1 nm | diameter of a carbon nanotube Carbon nanotube Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material... |
2.5 nm | Smallest transistor Transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current... gate oxide thickness microprocessor Microprocessor A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and... s (as of Jan 2007) |
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6–10 nm | thickness of cell membrane Cell membrane The cell membrane or plasma membrane is a biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment. The cell membrane is selectively permeable to ions and organic molecules and controls the movement of substances in and out of cells. It basically protects the cell... |
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10−8 | 10 nm | 10 nm | thickness of cell wall Cell wall The cell wall is the tough, usually flexible but sometimes fairly rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells. It is located outside the cell membrane and provides these cells with structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mechanism. A major function of the cell wall is to... in gram Gram staining Gram staining is a method of differentiating bacterial species into two large groups .... -negative bacteria Bacteria Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals... |
40 nm | extreme ultraviolet Ultraviolet Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV... wavelength |
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90 nm | Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) HIV Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive... (generally, virus Virus A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea... es range in size from 20 nm to 450 nm) |
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10−7 | 100 nm | 121.6 nm | wavelength of the lyman-alpha line Lyman-alpha line In physics, the Lyman-alpha line, sometimes written as Ly-\alpha line, is a spectral line of hydrogen, or more generally of one-electron ions, in the Lyman series, emitted when the electron falls from the n = 2 orbital to the n = 1 orbital, where n is the principal quantum number... |
380–435 nm | wavelength of violet Violet (color) As the name of a color, violet is synonymous with a bluish purple, when the word "purple" is used in the common English language sense of any color between blue and red, not including either blue or red... light—see color Color Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors... and optical spectrum |
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625–740 nm | wavelength of red light |
Human scale
Image:Icons 1e-6m to 1e5m squares 64pixel.png|none|frame|Click on the thumbnail image to jump to the desired order of length magnitude article: top-left is 1E-6m (10−6), lower-right is 1E5m (105). (Image description)
rect 0 0 63 63 1 E-6 m - Click on the relevant thumbnail image to jump to the desired order of length magnitude: top-left is 1e-6m, bottom-right is 1e5m. Click on information icon bottom-left for description of image.
1 E-6 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists some items with lengths between 10−6 and 10−5 m .Distances shorter than 1 µm*~0.7–300 µm — Wavelength of infrared radiation...
rect 64 0 127 63 1 E-5 m
1 E-5 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude, this page lists lengths between 10−5 m and 10−4 m .Distances shorter than 10 µm* 10 µm — width of cotton fibre...
rect 128 0 191 63 1 E-4 m
1 E-4 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−4 m and 10−3 m .Distances shorter than 100 µm* 100 µm – 1/10 of a millimetre* 100 µm – 0.00394 inches...
rect 192 0 255 63 1 E-3 m
1 E-3 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10−3 m and 10−2 m .Distances shorter than 1 mm* 1.0 mm — 1/1000 of a metre* 1.0 mm — 0.03937 inches or 5/127...
rect 0 64 63 127 1 E-2 m
1 E-2 m
Image:Length one to ten scale.svg|110px|right|Click on the top for smaller lengths and on the bottom for larger lengthspoly 0 0 20 20 0 20 Distances shorter than 1 centimetrepoly 0 200 200 200 220 220 0 220 Distances 10 centimetres or longer...
rect 64 64 127 127 1 E-1 m
1 E-1 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 centimetres and 100 centimetres .Distances shorter than 10 centimetres-Conversions:10 centimetres is equal to...
rect 128 64 191 127 1 E0 m
1 E0 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between one metre and ten metres.Distances shorter than 1 m-Conversions:1 metre is:* 10 decimetres* 100 centimetres* 1000 millimetres* 39.37 inches* 3.28 feet...
rect 192 64 255 127 1 E1 m
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Factor (m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... ) |
Multiple | Value | Item |
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10−6 | 1 micrometre Micrometre A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm... (µm) |
1 µm | also called one micron Micron Micron can refer to:*Micron, a non-SI name for micrometre*Micron , is the measurement used to express the diameter of a wool fibre.*A small curved diacritic mark above some letters, used to indicate shortness, e.g... |
1–3 µm | particle size that a surgical mask Surgical mask A surgical mask also known as a procedure mask is intended to be worn by health professionals during surgery and at other times to catch the bacteria shed in liquid droplets and aerosols from the wearer's mouth and nose.... removes at 80–95% efficiency |
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6-8 µm | diameter of a red blood cell Red blood cell Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood flow through the circulatory system... |
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10−5 | 10 µm | 10 µm | typical size of a fog, mist or cloud water droplet. Chip 10 µm process 10 µm process The 10 µm process refers to the level of semiconductor process technology that was reached around 1971–1972 timeframe by the leading semiconductor companies, like Intel.-Products featuring 10 µm manufacturing process:... in 1971. |
12 µm | width of acrylic fibre | ||
25.4 µm | 1/1000 inch, commonly referred to as one mil Thou (unit of length) A thou also known as a mil or point, is the verbalized abbreviation for "thousandth of an inch." It is a unit of length equal to 0.001 inch.... |
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10−4 | 100 µm | 100 µm | width of a strand of human hair |
200 µm | typical length of Paramecium caudatum Paramecium Paramecium is a group of unicellular ciliate protozoa, which are commonly studied as a representative of the ciliate group, and range from about 0.05 to 0.35 mm in length. Simple cilia cover the body, which allow the cell to move with a synchronous motion at speeds of approximately 12 body... , a ciliate protist |
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750 µm | maximum diameter of Thiomargarita namibiensis Thiomargarita namibiensis Thiomargarita namibiensis is a gram-negative coccoid Proteobacterium, found in the ocean sediments of the continental shelf of Namibia. It is the largest bacterium ever discovered, in general, wide, but sometimes up to... , the largest bacterium ever discovered |
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10−3 | 1 millimetre Millimetre The millimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousandth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length.... (mm) |
2.54 mm | 1/10th inch; distance between pins in DIP Dual in-line package In microelectronics, a dual in-line package is an electronic device package with a rectangular housing and two parallel rows of electrical connecting pins. The package may be through-hole mounted to a printed circuit board or inserted in a socket.A DIP is usually referred to as a DIPn, where n is... (dual-inline-package) electronic components |
5 mm | length of average red ant Ant Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than... |
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7.62 mm | common military ammunition size | ||
10−2 | 1 centimetre Centimetre A centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of . Hence a centimetre can be written as or — meaning or respectively... (cm) |
1.5 cm | length of a large mosquito Mosquito Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly... |
2.54 cm | 1 inch Inch An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot... |
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4.267 cm | diameter of a golf ball Golf ball A golf ball is a ball designed to be used in the game of golf.Under the Rules of Golf, a golf ball weighs no more than 1.620 oz , has a diameter not less than 1.680 in , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits... |
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10−1 | 1 decimetre Decimetre A decimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one tenth of a metre, the SI base unit of length. In simple words there are 10 cm in a decimetre.... (dm) |
10 cm | wavelength of the highest UHF Ultra high frequency Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres... radio frequency, 3 GHz |
30.48 cm | 1 foot | ||
91 cm | 1 yard Yard A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches... |
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100 | 1 metre Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... |
1 m | wavelength of the lowest UHF Ultra high frequency Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres... and highest VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... radio frequency, 300 MHz |
1.7 m (5 feet 7 inches) | average height of a human | ||
8.38 m | The length of a London Bus (Routemaster Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was built by Associated Equipment Company in 1954 and produced until 1968. Primarily front-engined, rear open-platform buses, a small number of variants were produced with doors and/or front entrances... ) |
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101 | 1 decametre Decametre A decametre or dekametre is a very rarely used unit of length in the metric system, equal to ten metres, the SI base unit of length. It can be written in scientific notation as , meaning .This measure is included mostly for completeness... (dam) |
10 m | wavelength of the lowest VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... and highest shortwave Shortwave Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used... radio frequency, 30 MHz |
33 m | length of longest blue whale Blue Whale The blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At in length and or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed.... measured, the largest animal |
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93.47 m | height of the Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886... (foundation of pedestal to torch) |
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102 | 1 hectometre Hectometre A hectometre is a somewhat uncommonly used unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundred metres. It derives from the Greek word "ekato", meaning "hundred". A regulation football or soccer field is approximately 1 hectometre in length.*For area the square hectometre is a common unit... (hm) |
100 m | wavelength of the lowest shortwave Shortwave Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used... radio frequency and highest medium wave radio frequency, 3 MHz |
137 m (147 m) | height (present and original) of the Great Pyramid of Giza Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact... |
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979 m | height of the Salto Angel, the world's highest free-falling waterfall (Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south... ) |
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103 | 1 kilometre Kilometre The kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second... (km) |
1 km | wavelength of the lowest medium wave radio frequency, 300 kHz |
1609 m | 1 international mile Mile A mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile... |
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8848 m | height of the highest mountain on earth, Mount Everest Mount Everest Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point... |
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104 | 10 km | 10.911 km | depth of deepest part of the ocean, Mariana Trench Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench or Marianas Trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. The trench is about long but has a mean width of only... |
13 km | narrowest width of the Strait of Gibraltar Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or... , separating Europe and Africa |
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90 km | width of the Bering Strait Bering Strait The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,... |
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105 | 100 km | 111 km | distance covered by one degree of latitude Latitude In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a... on Earth's surface |
163 km | length of the Suez Canal Suez Canal The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation... |
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974.6 km | greatest diameter of the dwarf planet, Ceres |
Astronomical
Factor (m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... ) |
Multiple | Value | Item |
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106 | 1,000 km = 1 megametre Megametre A megametre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one million metres, the SI base unit of length, hence to 1,000 km or approximately 621.37 miles.... (Mm) |
2,390 km | diameter of dwarf planet Pluto Pluto Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun... , formerly the smallest planet Planet A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,... category of our solar system |
3,480 km | diameter of the Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... |
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5,200 km | typical distance covered by the winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans 24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining... automobile endurance race |
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6,400 km | length of the Great Wall of China Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups... |
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6,600 km | approximate length of the two longest rivers, the Nile Nile The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major... and the Amazon Amazon River The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined... |
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7,821 km | length of the Trans-Canada Highway Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km... |
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9,288 km | length of the Trans-Siberian Railway Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world... , longest in the world |
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107 | 10,000 km | 12,756 km | equatorial diameter of the Earth |
40,075 km | length of the Earth's equator Equator An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass.... |
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108 | 100,000 km | 142,984 km | diameter of Jupiter Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,... |
299,792.458 km | distance travelled by light in one second | ||
384,000 km = 384 Mm | Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... 's orbital distance from Earth |
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109 | 1 million km = 1 gigametre Gigametre A gigametre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billion meters, the SI base unit of length, hence to 1,000,000 km or approximately 621,370 miles.... (Gm) |
1,390,000 km = 1.39 Gm | diameter of the Sun Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... |
4,200,000 km = 4.2 Gm | greatest mileage ever recorded by a car (A 1966 Volvo P-1800S Volvo P1800 -History:The project was started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had been a disaster, with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer Petterson, who in the 1940s was responsible for... , still driving) |
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1010 | 10 million km | 18 million km | approximately one light-minute |
1011 | 100 million km | 150 million km = 150 Gm | 1 astronomical unit Astronomical unit An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance.... (AU); mean distance between Earth and Sun |
~ 900 Gm | optical diameter of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse Betelgeuse, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis , is the eighth brightest star in the night sky and second brightest star in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel only rarely... (~600 × Sun) |
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1012 | 1000 million km = 1 terametre (Tm) | 1.4 km | orbital distance of Saturn Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,... from Sun |
~ 3 km | estimated optical diameter of VY Canis Majoris VY Canis Majoris VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star and also one of the most luminous. Located in the constellation Canis Major, it is a red hypergiant, between 1800 and 2100 solar radii, 8.4–9.8 astronomical units in radius, about 3.0 billion km or 1.9 billion miles in diameter, and about 1.5 kiloparsecs ... , as of 2007 the largest known star (~2000 × Sun) |
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5.9 km = 5.9 Tm | orbital distance of Pluto from Sun | ||
~ 7.5 km = 7.5 Tm | outer boundary of the Kuiper belt Kuiper belt The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive... , inner boundary of the Oort cloud Oort cloud The Oort cloud , or the Öpik–Oort cloud , is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets which may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun. This places the cloud at nearly a quarter of the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun... (~ 50 AU) |
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1013 | 10 Tm | diameter of our Solar System Solar System The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun... as a whole |
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16.25 km = 16.25 Tm | distance of the Voyager 1 Voyager 1 The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for as of today , the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of as of... spacecraft from Sun , the farthest man-made object so far |
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1014 | 100 Tm | 1.8 km = 180 Tm | size of the debris disk Debris disk A debris disk is a circumstellar disk of dust and debris in orbit around a star. Sometimes these disks contain prominent rings, as seen in the image of Fomalhaut on the right. Debris disks have been found around both evolved and young stars, as well as at least one debris disk in orbit around a... around the star 51 Pegasi 51 Pegasi 51 Pegasi is a Sun-like star located 15.6 parsecs from Earth in the constellation Pegasus... |
1015 | 1 petametre (Pm) | ~ 7.5 km = 7.5 Pm | supposed outer boundary of the Oort cloud (~ 50,000 AU) |
9.46 km = 9.46 Pm = 1 light year |
distance travelled by light in one year; at its current speed, Voyager 1 would need 17,500 years to travel this distance | ||
1016 | 10 Pm | 3.2616 light-years (3.08568 m = 30.8568 Pm) |
1 parsec Parsec The parsec is a unit of length used in astronomy. It is about 3.26 light-years, or just under 31 trillion kilometres .... |
4.22 light-years = 39.9 Pm | distance to nearest star (Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star about 4.2 light-years distant in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes, the Director of the Union Observatory in South Africa, and is the nearest known star to the Sun, although it is too faint to be seen with the naked eye... ) |
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10.4 light-years = 98.4 Pm | as of September 2007, distance to nearest discovered extrasolar planet Extrasolar planet An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars... (Epsilon Eridani b Epsilon Eridani b Epsilon Eridani b is an unconfirmed extrasolar planet approximately 10 light-years away orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani, in the constellation of Eridanus .- Discovery :... ) |
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1017 | 100 Pm | 20.4 light-years = 193 Pm | as of October 2010, distance to nearest discovered extrasolar planet with potential to support life as we know it (Gliese 581 d Gliese 581 d Gliese 581 d or Gl 581 d is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star Gliese 581 approximately 20 light-years away in the constellation of Libra. It is the third planet discovered in the system and the fifth in order from the star.... ) |
65 light-years = 6.15 m = 615 Pm | approximate radius of humanity's radio bubble, caused by high-power TV broadcasts leaking through the atmosphere into outer space | ||
1018 | 1 exametre (Em) | 200 light-years = 1.9 Em | distance to nearby solar twin (HIP 56948 HIP 56948 HIP 56948 is a solar twin star of type G5V, which as of March 2011, is the most sun-like star yet discovered in terms of size, mass, temperature, chemical makeup and, arguably, age... ), a star with properties virtually identical to our Sun |
1019 | 10 Em | 1,000 light-years = 9.46 Em or 9.46 × 1015 km | average thickness of Milky Way Galaxy (1000 to 3000 ly by 21 cm observations Hydrogen line The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line or HI line refers to the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. This electromagnetic radiation is at the precise frequency of 1420.40575177 MHz, which is equivalent to the vacuum... ) |
1020 | 100 Em | 12,000 light-years = 113.5 Em or 1.135 × 1017 km | thickness of Milky Way Galaxy's gaseous disk |
1021 | 1 zettametre (Zm) | 100,000 light-years | diameter of galactic disk of Milky Way Galaxy |
50 kiloparsecs | distance to SN 1987A, the most recent naked eye supernova | ||
52 kiloparsecs = 1.6 m = 1.6 Zm | distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby irregular galaxy, and is a satellite of the Milky Way. At a distance of slightly less than 50 kiloparsecs , the LMC is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, with the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal and Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy lying closer to the center... (a dwarf galaxy Dwarf galaxy A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars, a small number compared to our own Milky Way's 200-400 billion stars... orbit Orbit In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System... ing the Milky Way Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky... ) |
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54 kiloparsecs = 1.66 Zm | distance to the Small Magellanic Cloud Small Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy. It has a diameter of about 7,000 light-years and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of approximately 7 billion times the mass of our Sun.... (another dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way) |
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1022 | 10 Zm | 22.3 Zm = 2.36 million light-years = 725 kiloparsecs |
distance to Andromeda Galaxy Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the... |
50 Zm (1.6 Mpc) | diameter of Local Group Local Group The Local Group is the group of galaxies that includes Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way. The group comprises more than 30 galaxies , with its gravitational center located somewhere between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy... of galaxies Galaxy A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a... |
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1023 | 100 Zm | 300–600 Zm = 10–20 megaparsecs | distance to Virgo cluster Virgo Cluster The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly away in the constellation Virgo. Comprising approximately 1300 member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger Local Supercluster, of which the Local Group is an outlying member... of galaxies Galaxy A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a... |
1024 | 1 yottametre (Ym) | 200 million light-years = 2 Ym = 60 megaparsecs |
diameter of the Local Supercluster and the largest voids and filaments. |
550 million light-years ~170 megaparsecs ~5 Ym |
diameter of the enormous Horologium Supercluster Horologium Supercluster The Horologium Supercluster is a massive supercluster, about 550 million light-years across and has a mass of 1017 solar masses... |
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1025 | 10 Ym | 1.37 billion light years = 1.3 m = 13 Ym |
Length of the Sloan Great Wall Sloan Great Wall The Sloan Great Wall is a cosmic structure formed by a giant wall of galaxies , and to the present day it is the largest known structure in the universe. Its discovery was announced on October 20, 2003 by J. Richard Gott III of Princeton University and Mario Jurić and their colleagues, based on... , a giant wall of galaxies (galactic filament. |
1026 100 yottametres To help compare different orders of magnitude, this page lists distances greater than 100 Ym . At this scale, expansion of the universe becomes significant... |
100 Ym | 1 light-years = 1026 m = 100 Ym |
estimated light travel distance Distance measures (cosmology) Distance measures are used in physical cosmology to give a natural notion of the distance between two objects or events in the universe. They are often used to tie some observable quantity to another quantity that is not directly... to certain quasars |
92 light years = 9.2 m = 920 Ym |
approx. diameter (comoving distance Comoving distance In standard cosmology, comoving distance and proper distance are two closely related distance measures used by cosmologists to define distances between objects... ) of the visible universe |
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1027 | 1000 Ym | ~250 billion light years = 2.4 m = 2400 Ym |
According to one estimate using the WMAP data, it can be said with 95% confidence that there is a lower limit of 21 particle horizon size patches in the universe. |
Ym | megaparsecs = m = Ym |
size of universe after cosmological inflation, implied by one resolution of the No-Boundary Proposal |
See also
- Earth's location in the universeEarth's location in the universeKnowledge of Earth's location in the universe has been shaped by 400 years of telescopic observations, and has expanded radically in the last century. Initially, Earth was believed to be the center of the universe, which consisted only of those planets visible with the naked eye and an outlying...
- Powers of TenPowers of TenPowers of Ten is a 1968 American documentary short film written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten . The film is an adaptation of the book Cosmic View by Dutch educator Kees Boeke, and more recently is the basis of a new...
, a 1977 short documentary film which depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten.
External links
- How Big Are Things? displays orders of magnitude in successively larger rooms
- Powers of Ten Travel across the Universe. Altering perspective by changing scale by just a few powers of ten (interactive)
- Cosmos – an Illustrated Dimensional Journey from microcosmos to macrocosmos – from Digital Nature Agency