The true size of a blue whale
Two buses, fourteen human heights and an orca that suddenly looks small.
Read the story →A visual encyclopedia of everything
Understand the thing. Feel the scale.
Discover what things are, how big they are and how they compare.
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a passenger vehicle with two levels, used for public transport.
11 mLength
0 - shared origin
Blue whale
A blue whale is a baleen whale that feeds by filtering small animals from seawater.
25 mNose-to-tail length
0 - shared origin
Both rulers start at the same zero and share one linear scale. Artwork keeps its original proportions.
A little perspective
A blue whale is about 2.27 times as long as a double-decker bus.
Measurements, assumptions & sources +
Double-decker bus
Length: 11 m; example.
An 11 m long, 12 tonne example. Model and passenger load vary.
Defined examples — our methodology
The marked length is calibrated. Unmeasured illustration details are representative.
Blue whale
Nose-to-tail length: 25 m; representative.
A chosen 25 m, 100 tonne adult blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Population, sex and age matter: this is a representative comparison specimen, not a record animal.
The marked nose-to-tail length is calibrated. Unmeasured illustration details are representative.
Side by side
Unexpected neighbours.
Illustrative artwork · not to scale
Illustrative artwork · not to scale
Illustrative artwork · not to scale
Illustrative artwork · not to scaleA closer look
Follow a comparison a little further.
The scale of everything
From almost nothing
to almost everything.
Cross 61 orders of magnitude. Start with a bee and travel all the way to the edge of the observable universe.
Take the journey ↗
Pick a dimension
Just how…?
01Length & distance149 quantities to put in perspective02Area & space109 quantities to put in perspective03Volume & capacity103 quantities to put in perspective04Mass117 quantities to put in perspective05Weight & gravity21 quantities to put in perspective06Speed53 quantities to put in perspective07Temperature44 quantities to put in perspective08Time52 quantities to put in perspective09Energy40 quantities to put in perspective10Power37 quantities to put in perspective11Data & storage36 quantities to put in perspective12Space & everythingOne journey across the universe
Same you. Different gravity.
What would you
weigh on Mars?
Your mass stays the same. The pull of a different world changes everything.
Try it with your mass ↗
