Bananas for Scale
Human Red Blood Cell

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Human Red Blood Cell

The oxygen courier making 300,000 round trips through your body/Microscopic Life

Red blood cells are biconcave discs just 7 micrometers across that carry oxygen from your lungs to every tissue in your body. Each cell contains about 270 million hemoglobin molecules, and your body produces roughly 2.4 million new ones per second. They lack a nucleus, which maximizes space for hemoglobin but means they cannot divide or repair themselves.

Measurements

Diameter7 millionths m
35 millionthsBrick lengths
3.3 millionthsSofas

About 7 micrometers

Cell mass27 quadrillionths kg
588 quadrillionthsGolf balls
3.9 quadrillionthsThanksgiving turkeys
2.7 billionInsulin molecules

About 27 picograms

Thickness2 millionths m
2.9 thousandthsPencil lead widths
1.1 millionthsVending machine heights

About 2 micrometers at thickest

Lifespan10.4 million s
691,200Renditions of Happy Birthday
4.7 hundredthsDog years

About 120 days

Speed in aorta4 tenths m/s
30.8Garden snails
5.71Box turtles

About 40 cm/s in the aorta

Total distance traveled in lifetime480,000 m
40,000T-Rex body lengths
8 millionThumb lengths

About 480 km over its ~120-day life

Surface area130 trillionths m²
28.6 billionthsPlaying cards
4.7 trillionthsStudio apartments

About 130 square micrometers

Browse more in Microscopic Life