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Not long ago, I was working on a multimedia script about the chemical
industry and needed to figure out some way to illustrate the size of an
atom. After some basic calulations I came up with this.

If you put a single atom (or more correctly a single ion) of sodium or
chlorine beside a typical 0.3mm cube-shaped crystal of sodium chloride table
salt, the size ratio is close to the size ratio of the same tiny salt
crystal beside a cube as high as the Eiffel Tower.

Promoting public engagement with science
through a contagious delight in phenomena
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Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
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Ian Russell 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Informal Science Education Network 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Siegel
> Sent: 20 October 2008 12:41
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: if you put...
> 
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of 
> Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network 
> of science museums and related institutions.
> **************************************************************
> ***************
> 
> Here at ASTC, I have heard a few great examples of a minor 
> art form in which people try to explain how small, numerous, 
> or large something is by analogy.  They invariably start with 
> "if you put [or took].
> 
> I would like to start a collection of these short analogies, so please
> contribute:  Here are a few to start
> 
>  From New Scientist:  "if you took all the phage particles 
> [like viruses] and stacked them end to end, they would reach 
> for a total distance of 200 million light years."
>  From dinner last night:  "if each star was a grain of sand, 
> and you filled a box car with sand, and you did that for many 
> many boxcars, it would take seven years of boxcars of sand 
> passing you, one every five seconds, to make up the total 
> number of stars in the universe."
>  From NISE-net meetings:  "If you filled the exploratorium 
> with rats, and every rat touched every other rat every 
> second, that is how fast the molecules in a cell are moving."
>  From Dorothy Parker:  "If you laid all the girls at Vassar 
> end to end...I wouldn't be surprised."
> 
> Others?
> 
> 
> Eric Siegel
> esiegel at nyscience dot org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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