Just how small is a skin cell? This is something most of us struggle to comprehend. Each of us is made up of millions of human cells, trillions of bacterial cells… and even smaller items: DNA and atoms. How can we even begin to comprehend how small strands of DNA occupy each of the millions of cells in your body?
For example, a human cell has about 6 feet of DNA,
all tightly coiled up within the nucleus of each cell. Furthermore, each human body has about enough DNA when you add it all up to span from Mexico to Canada.
Years ago, I stumbled across one of the best representations of size that shows how small we’re talking here. Thanks to the University of Utah, you can use this interactive to zoom in on the really small world around us. Simply adjust just the slider at the bottom of the tool to zoom all the way to a carbon atom.
Screenshot:
Key vocabulary for this post:
- cell – the building blocks of life
- DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid; the instructions that each cell follows to know how to create proteins to build every organism in the world
- chromosome – tightly organized DNA twisted
- paramecium – a single-celled living thing
- lysosome – an organelle (tiny organs) within some cells
- mitochondrion – an organelle within cells of multi-celled organisms
- adenine – one of the “letters” or building blocks that makes up DNA
The Thinking Gap 