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On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 12:10 PM, Jeff Courtman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> The problem with these analogies (I will confess a fondness for the
> rats-at-the-Exploratorium), at least when they are used in earnest, is that
> they usually presume I have the ability to conceptualize really big or
> really small.....


There's also the question of linear dimension vs areal or volumetric
dimensions and it can be easy for people to conflate those in the analogies.


>
> When one mixes orders of orders of magnitude - it is very difficult for
> most of us to visualize in a meaningful way...
>
> (By the way...if you stacked a million nickels they would be taller than 5
> Sears Towers stacked on top of each other (without the radio antennas)....


And if you do not know about the Megapenny Project, you might want to check
it out. http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/

Also, the book One Million Dots

Dave Smith

-- 
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org

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