Typical distances

Diameter of the known universe	1026 m
From earth to the nearest galaxy (Andomeda, M31)	2 x 1022 m
Diameter of our galaxy	8 x 1020 m
From earth to the nearest star (thatís not our sun)	4 x 1016 m
From Pluto to the sun	6 x 1012 m
From earth to the sun	1.5 x 1011 m
Radius of the earth	6.4 x 106 m
Height of Mt. Everest	8848 m
Length of a football field	102 m
Height of a person	2 m
Diameter of a CD	0.12 m
Diameter of a period in our text	5 x 10-4 m
Diameter of a red blood cell	8 x 10-6 m
Diameter of a virus	2 x 10-8 m
Diameter of a hydrogen atom	10-10m
Diameter of a proton	2 x 10-15 m

Typical Masses

Galaxy	4 x 1041 kg
Sun	2 x 1030 kg
Earth	6 x 1024 kg
Space Shuttle	2 x 106 kg
747 airplane	3.5 x 105 kg
Elephant	5400 kg
Automobile	1200 kg
Person	70 kg
Bowling ball	7 kg
Baseball	0.15 kg
Honeybee	1.5 x 10-4 kg
Raindrop	2 x 10-5 kg
Red blood cell	10-13 kg
Virus	10-20 kg
Hydrogen atom	1.67 x 10-27 kg
Electron	9.11 x 10-31 kg

Typical Times

Age of the universe	4 x 1017 s
Age of the Earth	1.5 x 1017 s
Existence of the human species	6 x 1012 s
Human lifetime	2 x 109 s
One year	3 x 107 s
One day	8.6 x 104 s
Time between heartbeats	0.8 s
Collision time for batted ball	2 x10-3 s
One cycle of a visible light wave	2 x 10-15 s

Typical Speeds

Light	3 x 108 m/ s
Earth orbiting the sun	3 x 104 m/ s
Concorde airplane	710 m/ s
Terminal speed of a sky diver	60 m/ s
Pitched baseball	45 m/ s
Running cheetah	28 m/ s
Olympic sprinter	12 m/ s
Terminal speed of a raindrop	7 m/ s
Brisk walk	1.3 m/ s
Snail	10-3 m/ s
Human hair growing	3 x 10-9 m/ s
Continental drift	10-9 m/s

Typical Accelerations

Ultracentifuge	3 x 106 m/ s2
Baseball when batted	3 x 104 m/ s2
Car crashing into a wall at 60 mph	103 m/ s2
Bungee jump	30 m/ s2
Gravitational acceleration on surface of earth	9.8 m/ s2
Emergency stop in a car	8 m/ s2
Gravitational acceleration on surface of moon	1.7 m/ s2

Typical Forces

Saturn V rocket	3.4 x 107 N
Main engines of the shuttle	2 x 106 N
Pulling force of a locomotive	105 N
Weight of an adult	1000 N
Weight of an apple	1 N
Weight of an ant	1 x 10-3 N

Typical Energies

Annual US energy use	8 x 1019 J
Mt. St. Helens eruption	1018 J
Thunderstorm	1015 J
Jet aircraft moving at 500 mph	109 J
Energy released in the explosion of 100 pounds of TNT	2 x 108 J
Chemical energy in one gallon of gas	108 J
Chemical energy in a large pizza	2 x 107 J
Human food intake/ day	107 J
Car travelling at 60 mph	106 J
Energy required to melt an ice cube	104 J
Electrical energy used to light a 100W blub for 1 minute	6 x 103 J
Football linebacker running at a quarterback	4.5 x 103 J
Kinetic enegy of a person walking	50 J
Kinetic energy of a flying bee	2 x 10-3 J
Work to turn a page of a textbook	10-3 J
Kinetic energy of a moving snail	5 x 10-7 J
Energy required to break a bond in DNA	10-20 J