Microscopic · #1007 biggest of 1,014
How big is a strand of DNA (width)?
2.5 nm
A strand of DNA (width) measures 2.5 nm. That's about 25 atoms lined up end to end.
By the numbers
- That's 2.5 nanometers (nm) — smaller than a wavelength of visible light.
- You'd need about 680 million of them stacked up to reach the height of an average adult.
- Roughly 25 atoms could line up across it.
- Out of all 1,014 things in this collection, it ranks #1007 by size.
Size comparison
How strand of DNA (width) stacks up against things of a similar size. Tap any bar to explore it.
ribosome
20 nm
transistor (modern chip)
3.0 nm
transistor
3.0 nm
strand of DNA (width)
2.5 nm
strand of DNA (width)
2.5 nm
glucose molecule
1.0 nm
buckyball (C60)
7.0e+2 pm
carbon atom
1.4e+2 pm
hydrogen atom
1.0e+2 pm
Bars use a logarithmic scale so everything fits — real differences are even more extreme!
Fun fact
It's so small that about 400,000 of them would fit across a single millimeter.
More in Microscopic
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