How Big and How Small Things Are – Size Comparisons

Hey, today we’ll be comparing sizes. Size comparisons may be very interesting.

Things can be very small or very big when compared to the size of a human. Bacteria are teeny tiny, planets are huge. But is the Earth as many times bigger than a human as many times a human is bigger than a bacterium? Maybe more? Maybe less? Let’s have a look at this and some other examples.

How Are We Going to Compare?

Before we go on, though, let me explain what I am going to compare in this video. When I say something is five times bigger than something else, I mean its length or diameter is bigger, not its surface or volume. Here’s an example of two spheres.

The sphere on the right is four times bigger than the sphere on the left. By this I mean its diameter is four times bigger. This is how you should understand all the comparisons that I’m going to demonstrate.

OK, so back to our example. Here you can see a human and the Earth in a distance.

Let’s say a typical human is 1.7 m tall. The Earth’s diameter is 12,756 km. This means the Earth is 7,503,529 times bigger than a human. We’re comparing linear dimensions, keep that in mind.

Now, a typical bacterium is about 2 µm long, although there are huge differences between particular species. Anyway, let’s assume the average length of 2 µm.

So, with the human being 1.7 m tall, the latter is only 850,000 times bigger than a bacterium. So, if you stack that many bacteria on top of one another, they will add up to 1.7 m in height.

This means the Earth for a human is almost nine times bigger than human for a bacterium.

I know this is pretty useless knowledge, but I still find it interesting. Do you find it interesting too?

Oh, I see you do, so let’s continue.

I’m going to show you some more interesting  comparisons. You will see two or more pairs of objects each time, the objects in each pair being in similar size ratios to each other. You will also see their sizes, some of which are exact, like the diameter of Earth, others are approximations or average values like the height of a typical human or the length of a bacterium.

So, without further ado, let’s jump right in.

Objects That Don’t Differ Much in Size

Let’s start with some objects that don’t differ much in size, like a couple times tops.

Here you can see a human red blood cell and a typical bacterium.

The former is 3.5 times bigger than the latter. This is more or less how much the Earth is bigger than the Moon.

A water molecule, which you can see in this image, is 4.5 times bigger than a helium atom. This is more or less as much as a soccer ball is bigger than a golf ball.

An average body cell is about 7 times bigger than a human red blood cell. It’s slightly less than the difference between a human and a soccer ball.

The Differences Are Getting Bigger

Now let’s have a look at some bigger differences. A typical bacterium is about 17 times bigger than the Coronavirus. That’s about as much as the difference between a blue whale and a human.

An average body cell is 25 times the size of a typical bacterium. This is slightly less than how many times Mount Everest is taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Over One Hundred Times Bigger

Now that the differences are getting more and more extreme, it’s hard to see the smaller object in each pair, so the images are going to be out of scale from this moment on.

Maybe you know that the Sun’s diameter is 108 times longer than the Earth’s. Yeah, the Sun is huge. This is almost the same size ratio as that between a red ant and an average body cell.

A blue whale is 150 times bigger than a soccer ball.

[sound: whale]

That’s more or less how many times the Eiffel Tower is taller than a typical human.

Hundreds or Thousands of Times Bigger

Now let’s compare things that differ hundreds or thousands of times in size. The Coronavirus is 429 times bigger than a water molecule. An average body cell is as many times bigger than the virus.

Also the ratios between the Moon and Mount Everest, as well as between the Sun and the Moon are very close.

And now have a look at these red ants. Red ants are sweet, right? And I don’t mean what they taste like, I’ve never tried. Anyway, a red ant is 714 times bigger than a human red blood cell. This is about how many times a blue whale is bigger than a golf ball.

If you compare the height of the Eiffel Tower and the diameter of a soccer ball, it turns out the former is 1364 times the latter. A similar difference is between the Earth’s diameter and the height of its highest mountain.

The Coronavirus is 1935 times bigger than a helium atom. It’s slightly less than the difference between a red ant and a typical bacterium.

Speaking of which… A typical bacterium is 7143 times bigger than a water molecule. You’ll find similar ratios between a blue whale and a red ant as well as between the Eiffel Tower and a golf ball.

A golf ball, by the way, is 6143 times bigger than a human red blood cell. It’s slightly more than the difference between Mount Everest and a typical human.

Tens of Thousands of Times Bigger

Now let’s compare things that differ in size even more, like tens of thousands of times. A human red blood cell is tiny, but it’s 25,000 times bigger than a water molecule. It’s like the difference between a golf ball and a typical bacterium.

Here we have three pairs with similar size ratios, about 30,000:

– a typical bacterium and a helium atom,

– a soccer ball and a human red blood cell,

– a human and an average body cell

Here you can see three pairs with slightly higher ratios, about 40,000:

– a red ant and the Coronavirus,

– Mount Everest and a soccer ball,

– the Earth and the Eiffel Tower.

Hundreds of Thousands of Times Bigger

But differences in size can be way bigger than that. If you compare the size of a tiny human red blood cell and a helium atom, it turns out the former is over 100,000 times bigger than the latter. It’s as if you compared a soccer ball and a typical bacterium or the Moon and a blue whale.

An average body cell is about 179,000 times bigger than a water molecule. That’s slightly more than how many times the Sun is bigger than Mount Everest.

Now, about the Sun, our star. It’s so calm at sunset, especially if you watch it near a body of water like a lake. Have a look at this sunset animation. I made it in Blender. If you want to learn how to make an animation like this, I have a step-by-step tutorial, feel free to check it out.

But when you come closer to the Sun it turns out it’s not that calm. It can be pretty turbulent. It so happens that I also have a step-by-step tutorial on how to make this animation of a turbulent star in Blender, so feel free to check it out.

And sometimes a star can become even more turbulent. There may be dust bursts reaching far into the space.

Well, maybe not as huge as here in this rather artistic vision, or, who knows? Anyway, if you want to learn how to make an animation like this, yes, you guessed, I also have a step-by-step tutorial, so feel free to check it out. If you prefer, I also have a video version tutorial of this article, so you can watch it.

Anyway, let’s continue…

A typical human has red blood cells that are over 240,000 times smaller than themselves. This is approximately as if you compared Mount Everest and a gold ball.

As far as a golf ball is concerned, it’s about 360,000 times bigger than the Coronavirus. That’s how many times the Earth is bigger than a blue whale.

The difference between an average body cell and a helium atom is even bigger. The former is over 800,000 times bigger than the latter. It’s as many times as a human is bigger than a typical bacterium.

A Riddle

And now I have a riddle for you. Here you can see an image.

What do you think you can see? If you know the answer, write it down in the comments down below. I will give you the correct answer in my next post.

And now let’s go back to our comparisons.

Millions of Times Bigger

But there are things that differ millions of times in size. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Here’s a soccer ball. I’m just wondering whether when you kick a soccer ball you think that it’s almost 2 million times as big as the Coronavirus. Probably not. It’s as many times as Mount Everest is bigger than a red ant or the Moon than a human.

A blue whale is 4.7 million times bigger than a human red blood cell. It’s like when you compare the Sun to the Eiffel Tower.

You know how dangerous viruses can be. Even though a Coronavirus is over 14 million times smaller than a human. It’s like the difference between the Moon and a soccer ball or a blue whale and a typical bacterium.

The Sun is huge. It’s 42 million times bigger than a blue whale. This is almost exactly the same difference as between the Eiffel Tower and a human red blood cell.

A red ant is over 80 million the size of a helium atom. It’s like when you compare the Moon to a golf ball.

Speaking of which…

A golf ball is over 150 million times bigger than a water molecule. So many times, too, the Eiffel Tower is bigger than a typical bacterium.

The difference between a blue whale and the Coronavirus is more or less as that between the Earth and a golf ball, with a ratio of about 280 million.

The size ratios between a golf ball and a helium atom and that between the Moon and a red ant are very similar too, in each case the bigger object being almost 700 million times the size of the smaller one.

If you compare a soccer ball to a water molecule, you will see the former is almost 800 million times bigger than the latter. It’s like the ratio between the Sun and a human.

Billions of Times Bigger

The Eiffel Tower is 2.5 billion times bigger than the Coronavirus. If it’s hard to visualize, imagine the Earth and a red ant. Here the difference is exactly the same.

A soccer ball is 3.5 billion times bigger than a helium atom. It’s less than the difference between Mount Everest and a typical bacterium, which is 4.4 billion times.

Our body consists largely of water. But it’s over 6 billion times bigger than a single water molecule. It’s almost the same difference as between the Sun and a soccer ball.

If you compare the size of our body to that of a helium atom, our body turns out to be 27 billion times bigger. It’s almost as if you compared the Sun to a gold ball.

The difference between Mount Everest and the Coronavirus is nearly the same as that between the Moon and an average body cell. In both cases the bigger object is about 70 billion times bigger.

Now, some really huge differences. The Earth is over 255 billion times bigger than an average body cell. It’s like the difference between the Sun and a red ant.

A blue whale is over 500 billion times the size of a helium atom. It’s slightly more than the difference between the Moon and a human red blood cell.

Really Huge Size Differences

And finally, some really huge differences. The Moon is about 1.7 trillion times bigger than a typical bacterium. It’s how many times the Earth is bigger than a human red blood cell.

And now have a look at this… The Eiffel Tower. One of the symbols of the beautiful city of Paris. But did you know that the Eiffel Tower is 4.8 trillion times bigger than a helium atom. But it’s still not as much of a difference as that between the Earth and a typical bacterium, which is 6.4 trillion times.

Here are three pairs with similar size ratios, about 30 trillion:

– Mount Everest and a water molecule,

– the Moon and the Coronavirus,

– the Sun and an average body cell.

Mount Everest is over 140 trillion times bigger than a helium atom. It’s a bigger difference than that between the Earth and an Coronavirus.

The Moon is over 12 quadrillion times bigger than a water molecule. That’s almost like the difference between the Sun and the Coronavirus.

And the last comparisons. The Moon is about 50 quadrillion times bigger than a helium atom. That’s how many times the Earth is bigger than a water molecule.

We could go on like that for hours, but I’m going to wrap it up here. Do you know any interesting size comparisons like the ones I just demonstrated? If you do, write them down in the comments below.