03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Orders of magnitude (length) The following are examples of orders of magnitude for different lengths. Contents Overview Detailed list Subatomic Atomic to cellular Cellular to human scale Human to astronomical scale Astronomical less than 10 yoctometres 10 yoctometres 100 yoctometres 1 zeptometre 10 zeptometres 100 zeptometres 1 attometre 10 attometres 100 attometres 1 femtometre 10 femtometres 100 femtometres 1 picometre 10 picometres 100 picometres 1 nanometre 10 nanometres 100 nanometres 1 micrometre 10 micrometres 100 micrometres 1 millimetre 1 centimetre 1 decimetre Conversions Wavelengths Human-defined scales and structures Nature Astronomical 1 metre Conversions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 1/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Human-defined scales and structures Sports Nature Astronomical 1 decametre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Sports Nature Astronomical 1 hectometre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Sports Nature Astronomical 1 kilometre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 10 kilometres Conversions Sports Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 100 kilometres Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 1 megametre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Sports Geographical Astronomical 10 megametres Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 100 megametres 1 gigametre Objects of sizes in different order of 10 gigametres magnitude. 100 gigametres 1 terametre 10 terametres 100 terametres 1 petametre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 2/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia 10 petametres 100 petametres 1 exametre 10 exametres 100 exametres 1 zettametre 10 zettametres 100 zettametres 1 yottametre 10 yottametres 100 yottametres Notes See also References External links Overview Range (m) Section Unit Example items ≥ < −35 Planck length – 10 ℓP Quantum foam (This is a fixed quantity, not a range.) Subatomic – 10−18 am Electron, quark, string 10−15 10−12 fm Atomic nucleus, proton, neutron Atomic and −12 −9 pm Wavelength of gamma rays and X-rays, hydrogen atom cellular 10 10 10−9 10−6 nm DNA helix, virus, wavelength of optical spectrum 10−6 10−3 μm Bacterium, fog water droplet, human hair's diameter[note 1] 10−3 1 mm Mosquito, golf ball, domestic cat, violin, viola, football Human scale Cello, piano, human, automobile, sperm whale, football field, Eiffel 100 103 m Tower Mount Everest, length of Panama Canal and Trans-Siberian Railway, 103 106 km larger asteroid 106 109 Mm The Moon, Earth, one light-second 109 1012 Gm Sun, one light-minute, Earth's orbit 1012 1015 Tm Orbits of outer planets, Solar System Astronomical 1015 1018 Pm A light-year, the distance to Proxima Centauri 1018 1021 Em Galactic arm 1021 1024 Zm Milky Way, distance to Andromeda Galaxy 1024 Ym Huge-LQG, Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, visible universe Detailed list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 3/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various lengths between 1.6 × 10−35 meters and meters. Subatomic Factor Multiple Value Item (m) Planck length; typical scale of hypothetical loop quantum gravity or size of a hypothetical string 1 Planck and of branes; according to string theory lengths 10−35 0.0000000000162 ym (1.62 × 10−35 m) length smaller than this do not make any physical sense.[1] Quantum foam is thought to exist at this level. 1 Effective cross section radius of 1 MeV 10−24 yoctometre 2 ym (2 × 10−24 metres) neutrinos[2] (ym) Preons, hypothetical particles proposed as subcomponents of quarks and leptons; the upper bound for the width of a cosmic string in string 1 theory. −21 zeptometre 10 Effective cross section radius of high energy (zm) 7 zm (7 × 10−21 metres) neutrinos[3] De Broglie wavelength of protons at the Large 310 zm (3.10 × 10−19 metres) Hadron Collider (4 TeV as of 2012) Upper limit for the size of quarks and electrons 1 Sensitivity of the LIGO detector for gravitational 10−18 attometre waves[4] (am) Upper bound of the typical size range for "fundamental strings"[1] 10−17 10 am Range of the weak force 10−16 100 am 850 am Approximate proton radius[5] Atomic to cellular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 4/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Factor Item Multiple Value (m) 1.5 fm Size of an 11 MeV proton[6] 1 femtometre −15 2.81794 fm [7] 10 (fm) Classical electron radius 1.75 to 15 fm Diameter range of the atomic nucleus[1][8] 0.75 to Longest wavelength of gamma rays 0.8225 pm 1 picometre 10−12 1 pm Distance between atomic nuclei in a white dwarf (pm) 2.4 pm Compton wavelength of electron 5 pm Wavelength of shortest X-rays 25 pm Radius of hydrogen atom 10−11 10 pm 31 pm Radius of helium atom 53 pm Bohr radius 100 pm 1 Ångström (also covalent radius of sulfur atom[9]) (0.1 nm) 154 pm Length of a typical covalent bond (C–C). (0.154 nm) 10−10 100 pm 280 pm Average size of the water molecule, actual lengths may vary. (0.28 nm) 500 pm Width of protein α helix (0.50 nm) 1 nm Diameter of a carbon nanotube[10] 2 nm Diameter of the DNA helix[11] 1 nanometre Smallest microprocessor transistor gate oxide thickness (as of 10−9 2.5 nm (nm) January 2007) 3.4 nm Length of a DNA turn (10 bp)[12] 6–10 nm Thickness of cell membrane 10 nm Thickness of cell wall in Gram-negative bacteria As of 2016, the 10 nanometre was the smallest semiconductor device 10 nm [13] 10−8 10 nm fabrication node 40 nm Extreme ultraviolet wavelength 50 nm Flying height of the head of a hard disk.[14] 121.6 nm Wavelength of the Lyman-alpha line[15] 10−7 100 nm 120 nm Typical diameter of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)[16] 400–700 nm Approximate wavelength range of visible light[17] Cellular to human scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 5/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Factor Item Multiple Value (m) 1–4 μm Typical length of a bacterium[18] 1 micrometre (μm) 10−6 (also called one micron) 4 μm Typical diameter of spider silk[19] 7 μm Typical size of a red blood cell[20] 10 μm Typical size of a fog, mist or cloud water droplet Width of transistors in the Intel 4004, the world's first 10 μm commercial microprocessor 10−5 10 μm 12 μm Width of acrylic fiber 17- Width range of human hair[21] 181 μm Size of a single pixel on a 17-inch monitor with a resolution of 340 μm 1024×768 10−4 100 μm 560 μm Thickness of the central area of a human cornea[22] Maximum diameter of Thiomargarita namibiensis, the largest 750 μm bacterium ever discovered (as of 2010) 1.5 mm Length of an average flea[23] 1/10th inch; distance between pins in DIP (dual-inline-package) 10−3 1 millimetre (mm) 2.54 mm electronic components 5.70 mm Diameter of the projectile in 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition 2 cm Approximate width of an adult human finger 5.4 cm x Dimensions of a credit card, according to the ISO/IEC 7810 ID- 10−2 1 centimetre (cm) 8.6 cm 1 standard 7.3– Diameter of a baseball, according to Major League Baseball 7.5 cm guidelines[24] 1.2 dm = Diameter of a Compact Disk 12 cm 6.6 dm = Length of the longest pine cones, produced by the sugar 10−1 1 decimetre (dm) 66 cm pine[25] 9 dm = Average length of a rapier, a fencing sword[26] 90 cm Human to astronomical scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 6/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Factor Item Multiple Value (m) Since 1983, defined as length of the path travelled by light in vacuum 1 m during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second. See History of the (exactly) metre for previous definitions. 1 1 metre 2.72 m Height of Robert Wadlow, tallest known human being.[27] 8.38 m Length of a London bus (AEC Routemaster). 33 m Length of the longest known blue whale.[28] 1 101 decametre 52 m Height of the Niagara Falls.[29] (dam) 93.47 m Height of the Statue of Liberty. 105 m Length of a typical football field. 137 m Height (present and original) of the Great Pyramid of Giza. 1 (147 m) 102 hectometre (hm) 300 m Height of the Eiffel Tower, one of the famous monuments of Paris. Height of the Salto Angel, the world's highest free-falling waterfall 979 m (Venezuela) 2.3 km Axial length of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam in the world[30] 3 1 kilometre 10 (km) 3.1 km Narrowest width of the Strait of Messina, separating Italy and Sicily. 8.848 km Height of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. Depth of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest known 10.9 km point on Earth's surface. 4 10 km Circumference of the Large Hadron Collider, as of May 2010 the largest and 10 27 km highest energy particle accelerator. 42.195 km Length of a marathon. The distance the IAU considers to be the limit to space, called the Karman 100 km line. Length of the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red 163 km 105 100 km Sea.