Our Universe spans from subatomic to cosmic scales.
All told, 13 different scales are presently known.
1.) Fundamental, elementary particles. Down to 10-19 meters, these quanta have never been divided.
2.) Nuclear scales. On femtometer (~10-15 m) scales, individual nucleons, composed of quarks and gluons, bind together.
3.) Atomic scales. Angstrom-sized (~10-10 m), atoms compose all matter on Earth.
4.) Molecular scales. Nanometers (~10-9 m) and larger, molecules contain multiple atoms bound together.
5.) Microscopic scales. Below 0.0001 meters (human hair width), tools beyond human eyes are required.
6.) Macroscopic scales. Our conventional perceptions extend from sub-millimeter to several kilometer scales.
7.) Sub-planetary scales. Where gravity cannot defeat electromagnetism, free-floating bodies can reach several hundred kilometers.
8.) Planetary scales. Spheroidal because of self-gravitation, planets are typically ~1000-200,000 kilometers across.
9.) Star-sized scales. From 0.08-to-2000 times the Sun’s size, these nuclear furnaces light up the Universe.
10.) Stellar system scales. Extending up to ~2 light-years away, extended Oort-like clouds probe the limits of individual stellar systems.
11.) Galactic scales. From ~100-to-1,000,000 light-years, normal and dark matter hold galaxies together.
12.) Cluster-and-void scales. 10-to-100 million light-years wide, they’re the largest gravitationally bound structures.
13.) Truly cosmic scales. The fully observable cosmic web extends ~92 billion light-years across.
On even larger and smaller scales, new phenomena may still await discovery.
Mostly Mute Monday tells a cosmic story in images, visuals, and no more than 200 words.