Masses, lengths and times
The following list gives the orders of magnitude of
a whole range of distances, masses and times throughout the
Universe.
| Distances |
|
|
| Diameter of a sub-nuclear particle |
|
10-15 m |
| Distance across an atom |
|
10-10 m = 0.1 nm |
| Distance a fingernail grows in 1s |
|
10-9 m = 1 nm |
| Wavelength of yellow light |
|
6x10-7 m = 600 nm |
| Diameter of a human hair |
|
5x10-6 m = 50 μm |
| Height of an adult human |
|
1.75 m |
| World record long jump (man) |
|
8.95 m |
| Length of a marathon run (approx.) |
|
40 000 m |
| Distance light travels in a year (in free space) |
|
1016 m = 1013 km |
| Radius of the observable universe |
|
1025 m = 13 700 light years |
| |
|
|
| Masses |
|
|
| Mass of an electron |
|
10-30 kg |
| Mass of an adult human |
|
100 kg |
| Mass of a small car |
|
1000 kg |
| Mass of a diesel locomotive (average) |
|
50 000 kg |
| Mass of the Earth |
|
6x1024 kg |
| Mass of the Sun |
|
2x10-30 kg |
| Mass of the Universe (approx.) |
|
1050 kg |
| |
|
|
| Time intervals |
|
|
| Time for light to cross a nucleus |
|
10-23 s |
| One 'beat' of the clock in fast PC |
|
10-12 s = 1 ps |
| One heart beat |
|
1 s |
| Mens' world 100 m record (2016) |
|
9.58 s |
| Time to boil an egg |
|
100 s |
| Length of a football match |
|
5000 s |
| A school morning |
|
10 000 s |
| One day |
|
86 400 s |
| One year |
|
3.2x107 s |
| 'Average western'human lifetime |
|
2.5x109 s = 80 years |
| Rotation period for our galaxy |
|
7.7x1015 s = 2x108 years |
| Age of the Universe |
|
1018 s = 13 700x1012 years |
You might like to look at some more interesting magnitudes of
quantities by visiting
Physics facts
A VERSION IN WORD IS AVAILABLE ON THE SCHOOLPHYSICS USB
