How Small Is HeLa Cell? 20 µm Compared to Scale | Magnitudle

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HeLa Cell (20 µm) drawn to scale beside a cloud droplet (20 µm) and a human hair (70 µm) — Drawn to scale, from left to right: HeLa Cell (20 µm), Cloud droplet (20 µm) and Human hair (70 µm).

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How big is that, really?

About the same width as a cloud droplet
As wide as about 3 red blood cells side by side
About 3 would fit across a human hair
About 5 would fit across a human egg cell
About 10× the length of an E. coli bacterium

Learn

Facts about HeLa Cell

HeLa cells, taken from Henrietta Lacks in 1951 without her consent, became the first immortal human cell line used worldwide in research.

Source: Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; ATCC: HeLa cell line

Micro World

Name	Size	Compared with HeLa Cell
Human Dendritic Cell	15 µm	0.75×
Trichomonas vaginalis	15 µm	0.75×
Human Astrocyte	15 µm	0.75×
HeLa Cell	20 µm	this page
Cellulose Fiber	20 µm	same size
Human Erythroblast	20 µm	same size
Human Goblet Cell	20 µm	same size
Thalassiosira Diatom	20 µm	same size
Human Hepatocyte	25 µm	1.3×
Human Osteocyte	25 µm	1.3×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: HeLa Cell or Human Hepatocyte?

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