The scale
A ruler where every step multiplies by ten, from the atom to the galaxy. It is the only way to get both ends into one picture, and it hides surprises: a virus is closer to an atom than to a bacterium, and a bacterium is closer to us than to that virus. The same ruler works for time and for energy, and once you have seen it it is hard to think any other way — above all when it shows that the jump from small to large is almost never where intuition puts it.
Where this sits
- Comes after
- Orders of magnitude
Exercises from this rung
Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest
Where does a person fall?
- After D
- Between A and B
- Before A
- Between B and C
Why a person measures 1.7 × 10⁰ m, and a cat measures 5.0 × 10⁻¹ m. Every step of the ruler multiplies by ten: gaps that look small on it are enormous.
easierWhere does a marathon fall?
- Between C and D
- Between A and B
- After D
- Between B and C
Why a marathon measures 4.2 × 10⁴ m, and Everest measures 8.8 × 10³ m. Every step of the ruler multiplies by ten: gaps that look small on it are enormous.
in betweenWhere does a hair's width fall?
- Before A
- Between A and B
- Between C and D
- After D
Why a hair's width measures 7.0 × 10⁻⁵ m, and a red blood cell measures 8.0 × 10⁻⁶ m. Every step of the ruler multiplies by ten: gaps that look small on it are enormous.
harder