Diameter100 billionths m
625 billionthsKindle heights
8.3 millionthsAspirin tablets
100 nanometers
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 Virus)
The 100-nanometer particle that shut down the world/Medicine & Biology
SARS-CoV-2 is a spherical virus about 100 nanometers in diameter, studded with distinctive spike proteins that give coronaviruses their crown-like appearance. It contains about 30,000 base pairs of RNA, making it one of the largest RNA viruses known. A single infected person can harbor billions of viral particles at peak infection.
Measurements
Spike protein length20 billionths m
10DNA helices
601 quadrillionthsEnglish Channel widths
7.3 billionthsGrand piano lengths
About 20 nm
Virion mass1 quintillionths kg
1 thousandthsBacteria
200 quintillionthsUS nickels
About 1 femtogram
Genome size30,000 B
3 billionthsLibraries of Congress
188Text messages
29,903 nucleotides
Incubation period (median)432,000 s
21.8NYC-to-LA flights
15Workdays
240"Be right back"s
About 5 days
Inactivation temperature329 K
9.2 tenthsSaunas
1.3Antarctic penguins
1.3 hundredthsPlasma torch arcs
56 degrees C for 30 minutes