Micro Macro

In science, scale can be difficult to judge, particularly when coming across an image of science without any proper context. Is this fascinating object something that I can hold in my hand, find under a microscope, or does it reach across the galaxy? It’s important — and quite interesting — to learn about objects on every scale. After all, some processes can be similar whether they’re on a micro or macro scale.

Remarkably, some of the images of the very small look astonishingly like those of the very big. In this visual essay, we compare some size doppelgangers and begin to explore the true scale of science.

We often think of the Earth as large — and it is compared to things on the human scale. Yet, a million Earths can fit inside our Sun, which is very small compared to many other objects in space. Likewise, we generally think of grains of sand as being incredibly small in contrast to experiences in our everyday lives. However, the realm of cellular and molecular biology and its constituents, for example, are much smaller than that sand grain and impossible for the unaided eye to see.

The simple question of “how big is this?” often turns out to be not so simple to answer. We can explore this idea of scale through the imagery that different disciplines of science generate. In these images of both the large and the very small, we can find patterns, identify color (which is typically applied during the image-making process), and examine texture. Despite their disparate subject matters, these images possess many similarities and offer an opportunity to explore the wonders and beauty of science from “micro” to “macro”.

To the right, you’ll find some micro and macro-macro pairings. Which is which?

(Mouse over the images at right to learn more about each object)


SCALE & COLOR

Measuring Scale

We might frequently ask how wide or how long something is. The concept of length is familiar to us for things we encounter here on Earth. One way to describe it is as the distance between two points. When we think about objects on different scales, we find that distances can stretch (or shrink) almost as far as our imaginations. Typically, the units for length are shown in meter (m), or kilometers (km, which equals 1000 meters)) for those using the metric system. In the US, most feel comfortable when dealing with feet and miles. In astronomy, distances and sizes, however, are often too big for the mile or km once you move outside of the objects in our solar system. Instead, cosmic objects and distances are measured in units of light years, where one light year is the distance that light travels in a year—about 10 trillion kilometers. In microscopy, we must go to the other end of the size spectrum and measure in micrometers (also called a micron, which is about one-millionth of a meter) or nanometers (where one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). In this piece, we’ve provided most objects in meters or kilometers so you can easily compare their sizes.

Adding Color to Science Data:

When a satellite observes an object in space, its camera records photons. These photons come down from the spacecraft coded in the form of 1’s and 0’s. Scientific software then translates that data into an event table that contains the time, energy and position of each photon that struck the detector during the observation. The data is further processed with software to form the visual representation of the object.

The terms "false color" or "representative color" are often used to describe astronomy images whose colors represent measured intensities outside the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (for X-ray light, for example). A representative color image is not wrong or fake — it’s a selection of colors chosen to represent a characteristic of the image (e.g., intensity, energy or chemical composition). For example, a chromatic ordering can be made by applying red, green and blue colors to the low, medium and high energy cuts of the data. The colors used are representative of the physical processes underlying the objects in the image.

Similarly, in microscopy, scientists also have to apply color to many of their samples. There are many different techniques and purposes, from the microscope used, to any staining technique of the samples themselves. A scanning electron microscope (SEM), for example, conducts a patterned scan over the object being studied, using a highly focused beam of electrons. When the surface is struck, signals are produced, such as X-rays or visible light. The signals then bounce back to the microscope and recreate that part of the object as a visual representation. Similarly to our astronomical images, the sensitivity of the equipment goes well beyond human vision. So, color is applied by mapping the energy cuts. In this activity, some of the images have been adapted from their original color schemes to closer connect with their image pair, for the purpose of visual comparison only, and not in relation to the science.


RESOURCES

Downloadables

Micro Macro Activity Worksheet/Facilitation Guide
Micro Macro Poster
Micro Macro Handout

Interactive

Micro Macro Matching Game Printable cards
Micro Macro Matching Game answer set

Links

About Coloring Space
High Energy Process
From the Earth to the Heavens


Learn more about these images:


thumbnails for links
Top
Mouse Eye
Micro

Mouse Eye
Researchers can study the roles of cells in metabolism by studying certain molecules by color. This image contains tiny slice of a common mouse’s eye that spans 0.00332 meters in diameter.

Credit: Bryan William Jones and Robert E. Marc, University of Utah

Saturn
Micro

Saturn’s North Pole
At the center of Saturn’s northern pole, we find a hexagon-shaped wavy jet stream & a large rotating storm at its center. The stream is about 20,000 mi/30,000 km across.

Credit: NASA/JPL


Our Sun
Micro

Our Sun
The Sun gives off many kinds of light from radio waves to gamma rays, as seen here. The diameter of our Sun is about 864,000 miles (mi) or 1.4 million kilometers (km).

Credit: Alan Friedman

Raji Cells
Micro

Raji Cells
Bunches of cells from a Raji cell line can lead to a strain of Epstein-Barr virus in humans. Raji cells are about 0.000005-0.000008 meters in diameter.

Credit: 22Kartika CC BY-SA 3.0


Onion Cells
Micro

Onion Cells
Here you can see both a nucleus (dark region off center) and some bubbles of air (dark curvy lines). Onion cells range in size from 0.000250-0.0004 meters across.

Credit: Anastasia, CC4

SN1006
Micro

SN1006
This X-ray image shows a supernova remnant, the remains of an exploded star. Image is about 70 light years or about 400 trillion mi/644 trillion km across.

Credit: NASA/CXC/Middlebury College/F.Winkler


Magellanic Cloud
Micro

Small Magellanic Cloud
200,000 light years away, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way’s closest galactic neighbors. The image is about 7000 light years, or 900 trillion mi/1448 trillion km, across.

Credit: Optical: NOAO/CTIO/MCELS coll.; Radio: ATCA/UIUC/R.Williams et al.

Tuberculosis
Micro

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Seen here under ultraviolet light with acid-fast stain, these bacteria can lead to tuberculosis infections. The rods, glowing in yellow, are between 0.000002 to 0.000004 meters in length.

Credit: Ronald W. Smithwick, USCDCP


DB58
Micro

DB58
A cluster of bright, young stars is seen in X-ray and infrared light near the center of our Milky Way galaxy about 12 light years (70 trillion mi/113 trillion km) across.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern U./C.Law & F.Yusef-Zadeh; Infrared: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

Human Progenitor Cells
Micro

Human Progenitor Cells
Progenitor cells are biological cells that have a tendency to differentiate into a more specific type of cell.

Credit: Rose Spear, Engineering at Univ. of Cambridge


Rabbit Tongue
Micro

Rabbit Tongue Cells
An optical microscope with a magnification power of forty was used to image muscle fibers, collagen fibers, the keratin layer and the outer layer of cells in a rabbit’s tongue.

Credit: Mohit Lalwani, CC BY-SA 4.0

Jupiter
Micro

Jupiter
Jupiter, a gas giant, is the most massive planet in our Solar System and has over 50 known moons. At its equator the diameter of Jupiter is about 89,000 mi/143,000 km.

Credit: NASA/GSFC


Sunspot
Micro

Sunspot
This dark central region shows a planet-sized sunspot on our Sun’s surface. This sunspots is about 14,000 mi/23,000 km across.

Credit: SST, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Neurons
Micro

Neurons
This image shows neurons from the eye of Sunspot a 0.0035-meter 72-hour old zebrafish larva that was captured using a special microscope with a laser.

Credit: Jaydeep Sidhaye CC BY-SA 4.0


Mercury
Micro

Mercury
Mercury is about 3,032 mi or 4,879 km in diameter. Its surface is heavily pockmarked like our Moon, but it also has striations.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins/Institution of Washington.

Embryonic Stem Cells
Micro

Embryonic Stem cells
These embryonic stem cells are shown as a colony growing on a cell in connective tissue. They are about 0.000014 meters in diameter.

Credit: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine


b0131
Micro

3c273
This X-ray image shows an extremely powerful jet originating from gas falling toward a supermassive black hole. The jet is enormous, stretching across more than 100,000 light years (600,000 trillion mi/965,606 trillion km) of space, a size comparable to our own Milky Way galaxy.

Credit: Anastasia, CC4

dynaminfission
Micro

Membrane Fission
Some cells can be divided into parts through fission – a process when the layer that binds or partitions cells, etc. is split into two distinct membranes. In this image, the process resembles “beads on a string.” When one of the beads is cut off, membrane fission has occurred. Scale is between .00000005 - .0000001 meters.

Credit: The Scripps Research Institute/R.Ramachandran, et al.


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