Meters, Kilometers, Miles, these are units of measurement for large things. Big things – things we can see. But there are also tiny things, those that are impossible to glimpse using the naked eye. That doesn’t mean they’re not there. So scientists have even invented measurements especially for these tiny things.
First, before we get to examples, learn what these measurements are. 1 cm = 10 mm = 10,000 micrometers = 10,000,000 nanometers. Got that down? Let’s hop into some real life examples.
#1: a pinky nail. Just as a marker, the width of your pinky finger’s nail is probably around one centimeter.
#2: An average raindrop is 2 millimeters wide in diameter. However, before it becomes a raindrop, it has to be larger than 0.5 mm. Also, if the raindrop is larger than 4 millimeters, it will get to heavy or large, and it will most likely break into two smaller raindrops. Most raindrops also contain specks of dust from outer space. These specks are normally 2 micrometers in diameter.
#3: Your hair. If you’ve ever looked at hair under a microscope, you’ll find giant pillars of hard, thick substance with grit on top. So, that sort of proves your hair isn’t THAT skinny. It’s actually 50 micrometers thick, (which is quite skinny, but not THAT skinny). Even the grit isn’t so small – 30 micrometers in diameter.
#4: A pinhead is the image of tiny. It’s really not that small. An average pinhead, because its visible, is actually 1.5 mm thick. That’s large enough so that 20,000,000 viruses can fit on it – each one 20 to 100 nanometers large.
#5: The bacteria that can make you sick so easily are actually tiny – so the imagination that your body is one army and the bacteria is the other is actually sort of right. An army of tiny bad bacteria needs to enter your body to make you sick. One of them is 5 micrometers in diameter. One of your red blood cells that defend are 6.2 – 8 micrometers in diameter and around one micrometer in thickness.
#6: an atom. The third smallest thing in existence (so far). Everything is made of atoms, so they must be small. They are small, actually. VERY small. One atom is 0.5 nanometer in diameter. That’s small enough so that 10 billion (that’s 10,000,000,000) would fit in a centimeter. That’s small enough!
Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ
DEC-XZ 