en
Download

Micro World

How small is Neisseria gonorrhoeae?

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is about 800 nm wide.

What is measured: diplococcus bacterium pair, width

Neisseria gonorrhoeae (800 nm) drawn to scale beside a flu virus (100 nm) and an E. coli bacterium (2 µm)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Flu virus (100 nm), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (800 nm) and E. coli bacterium (2 µm).

Compare

How big is that, really?

  • About 2 would fit end to end along an E. coli bacterium
  • As wide as about 8 flu viruses side by side
  • About 9 would fit across a red blood cell
  • About 32× as wide as a ribosome

Learn

Facts about Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria gonorrhoeae typically appears as paired kidney-bean-shaped cells under the microscope.

Source: CDC: Gonorrhea; Kenneth Todar's Microbiology

Micro World

NameSizeCompared with Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Lysosome500 nm0.63×
Mimivirus750 nm0.94×
Neisseria gonorrhoeae800 nmthis page
Pandoravirus1 µm1.3×
Synechococcus Cyanobacterium1 µm1.3×
Nitrosomonas europaea Bacterium1.5 µm1.9×
Micrococcus luteus1.5 µm1.9×
Listeria monocytogenes2 µm2.5×
Campylobacter jejuni2 µm2.5×
Klebsiella pneumoniae2 µm2.5×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Pandoravirus?

Topics

More sizes like this