Microscopic · #996 biggest of 1,014
How big is a mitochondrion?
1 µm
A mitochondrion measures 1 µm. That's about 10 viruses lined up end to end.
By the numbers
- That's 1 micrometers (µm) — far too small to see with the naked eye.
- You'd need about 1.7 million of them stacked up to reach the height of an average adult.
- Roughly 10 viruses could line up across it.
- Out of all 1,014 things in this collection, it ranks #996 by size.
Size comparison
How mitochondrion stacks up against things of a similar size. Tap any bar to explore it.
red blood cell
7.5 µm
chloroplast
5.0 µm
yeast cell
4.0 µm
bacterium (E. coli)
2.0 µm
mitochondrion
1.0 µm
wavelength of red light
7.0e+2 nm
wavelength of blue light
4.5e+2 nm
smallpox virus
3.0e+2 nm
HIV virus
1.2e+2 nm
Bars use a logarithmic scale so everything fits — real differences are even more extreme!
Fun fact
It's so small that about 1,000 of them would fit across a single millimeter.
More in Microscopic
Tip: swipe, use the arrow keys, or scroll past the edge to jump between sizes.