Microscopic · #977 biggest of 1,014
How big is a grain of sand?
500 µm
A grain of sand measures 500 µm. That's about 7.14 human-hair widths lined up end to end.
By the numbers
- That's 500 micrometers (µm) — far too small to see with the naked eye.
- You'd need about 3,400 of them stacked up to reach the height of an average adult.
- Roughly 7.14 human-hair widths could line up across it.
- Out of all 1,014 things in this collection, it ranks #977 by size.
Size comparison
How grain of sand stacks up against things of a similar size. Tap any bar to explore it.
tiny seed pearl
2.0 mm
tardigrade
5.0e+2 µm
grain of sand
5.0e+2 µm
grain of sugar
5.0e+2 µm
grain of sand
5.0e+2 µm
dust mite
3.0e+2 µm
grain of salt
3.0e+2 µm
human egg cell
1.0e+2 µm
neuron
1.0e+2 µm
Bars use a logarithmic scale so everything fits — real differences are even more extreme!
Fun fact
It's so small that about 2 of them would fit across a single millimeter.
More in Microscopic
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