Total surface area1.7 m²
28.2Sheets of paper
1.7 billionHuman cell surfaces
3.9 thousandthsBasketball court areas
Average adult; roughly the area of a twin mattress
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Human Skin
Your largest organ, and the only one on permanent display/The Human Body
Human skin covers about 1.7 m² of surface area in the average adult, weighs roughly 3.6 kg (about 16% of body weight), and averages about 2 mm thick. It's the body's largest organ by both mass and area. Every square centimeter hosts about 300 sweat glands, and you shed roughly 1.5 grams of dead skin cells every day, enough to feed a small army of dust mites.
Measurements
Total mass3.6 kg
720US nickels
133 trillionRed blood cell weights
3.96Bags of sugar
Including epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis
Average thickness2 thousandths m
667 millionthsDiving boards
6 millionthsAircraft carrier lengths
1.2 thousandthsHuman arm spans
About 2 mm; varies from 0.5 mm on eyelids to 4 mm on soles
Thinnest skin (eyelids)500 millionths m
50Dust particles
746 millionthsFlute lengths
About 0.5 mm on the eyelids
Thickest skin (soles)4 thousandths m
800 millionthsBamboo pole lengths
1.6 thousandthsSunflower heights
Up to 4 mm on the soles of the feet
Daily skin cell loss1.5 thousandths kg
429 millionthsNewborn babies
236 millionthsBowling balls
About 1.5 grams of dead cells shed daily