Space, Time and Scale

We usually navigate our worlds using limited “tools” like our eyes, hands, feet, and ears. As such we typically surround ourselves with object sizes that are within 3-4 orders of magnitude to our own bodies and participate in events that typically take seconds, maybe hours. Rarely, if ever, do we interact with the distance between fibers on a sheet of paper or the time it takes for the light on this screen to reach our eyes, then the time it takes for our brain to receive the information from our eyes. Slow motion capture, scenic elevation view points and microscopes offer exciting glimpses into these worlds smaller or larger than our own; but the further we explore, the more we need the tools and language to guide the exploration. This lesson is an attempt to offer similar exciting glimpses into worlds, large and small, and to learn common terminology (units and prefixes) to navigate the world.