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简体中文Learn
Learn about size, scale and estimation, page 2
3 min read
How many seeds are in a pomegranate—and is 613 real?A typical pomegranate is about 10 cm wide, but its seed count varies. Learn what the 613-seed legend means and estimate a count by sampling its arils.
4 min read
How many kernels are on an ear of corn?Learn a quick way to estimate an ear's kernel count: count its paired rows, multiply by kernels per row, and see why totals can reach up to 1,000.
4 min read
How many grapes does it take to make a bottle of wine?See how grape weight and pressing yield turn a harvest into bottled wine, and why the answer is an estimate rather than a fixed berry count.
4 min read
How many grains of sand are on Earth?How many grains of sand are on Earth? A beach-only estimate reaches about 4×10²⁰ grains — a count that rivals some estimates of the stars in the universe.
3 min read
A typical cup takes about 125 coffee beansA 250 mL filter coffee made with a 15 g dose works out to about 125 beans; learn why bean weight can shift the count for your own brew.
3 min read
How long would it take to count to a billion?At one number per second, counting to a billion takes 31.7 years without stopping. See why saying each number aloud could stretch the estimate to centuries.
4 min read
Why are fast-food burgers bigger now?See how menu rivalry encouraged fuller burgers, picture a bun beside a grapefruit, and learn why history gives no fair industry-wide measure of burger growth.
4 min read
How far away is the horizon from a beach or mountaintop?From a beach, the horizon is about 5 km away. Learn how Earth’s curve extends it from Fuji to K2, and why haze or terrain can hide the view.
3 min read
A light-year would circle Earth 236 million timesSee how a light-year compares with Salar de Uyuni and Greenland, then picture 9.46 trillion kilometres as repeated trips around Earth's equator.
4 min read
How did Eratosthenes measure the Earth with a stick?See how Eratosthenes used noon shadows in Alexandria and Syene, a measured distance and geometry to estimate Earth's circumference, and how close he came.
3 min read
How big is an acre, really?An acre is 4,047 square metres, but that number is hard to picture. See it as an ox-ploughed day's work, a football field, and a Yellowstone spring.
5 min read
How is a mountain’s height actually measured?From a plumb line and measured baseline to GPS on Denali, learn how surveyors define summit height today and why famous elevations can change.
Download
Put your sense of scale to the test
Magnitudle is a game about the real size of things. Rank them, pick the biggest and resize them to real scale, then see the answer drawn to scale.
Free on iPhone and Android
