1. Although our Universe is very, very big, the stuff of which it is made is very, very small.

2. The biggest: 1 × 10 23...? 100,000.000,000,000,000,000,000 meters The largest is far away; the smallest is within us. The smallest: 1 × 10 -15...? 0.0000000000000001 of a meter

3. Within a vast Universe exists a blue marble of light, a “blue dot”, which we call Earth. Earth floating in a ray of sunshine a picture by Pioneer spacecraft requested by the late Carl Sagan

4. 10 0 = 1 meter (m) = 3.3 feet (ft) Our world at arm’s length 10 -15 1 femtometer (fm) 1.7 femtometer proton in an atomic nucleus 10 12 = 1,000,000,000,000 1 light-year = 9.46 × 10 12 km = 1 ly 10 -9 1 nanometer (nm) water molecule 10 -6 1 micrometer (µm) typical bacteria 10 23 ly = 14 billion light years - far, far away... The boundary of today’s known universe, perhaps tomorrow’s frontiere ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 -3 1 millimeter (mm) ~ 10 sheets of copier paper 10 -12 1 picometer (nm) atoms CERN is the birth- place in 1989 of the World Wide Web Visit CERN at the European Council for Nuclear Research. Visit CERN Inside one of CERN’s kilometers of circular tunnels: these machines are colloquially referred to a s “atom smashers ”.

5. 10 0 = 1 meter = 3.28 feet

6. 10 1 = 10 The wingspan of an Air Bus A380 is 80 meters (8 × 10 m) or 263 ft. Air Bus A380 Super Jumbo

7. 10 2 = 100 The Empire State Build- ing in New York City stands 370 m or 3.7 × 10 2 m. 10 3 = 1,000 The Russky Bridge in Vladivostok, Russia has a span of 1,100 m or 1.1 × 10 3 m.

8. 10 4 = 10,000 The Earth is 12,742 km in diameter or 1.2742 × 10 4 km (~ 8,000 miles).

9. 10 5 kilometers = 100,000 km Our Moon is ~3.8 × 10 8 meters or 3.8 × 10 5 kilometers (~ 239,000 miles) from Earth. The distance from the Earth to the Moon can also be described as being 1.1 light-seconds.

10. Our Sun in infra-red Our Sun in ultraviolet 10 6 = 1,000.000 The Earth is 150,000.000 km or 1.5 × 10 9 m from the Sun 93,000,000 miles = 8 light-minutes

11. 10 9 = 1,000,000,000 = 1 billion In this photograph, Earth is 1.44 × 10 9 kilometers, or ~900 million miles, from Saturn (NASA Cassini: 19 July 2013).

12. 10 12 = 1,000,000,000,000 1 light year = 9.46 × 10 12 km = 300,000 meters per second (the speed of light) × 3,600 seconds in 1 hour × 24 hours in 1 day × 365 days in 1 year = 1 light-year Our closest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, is a mere 4.22 ly distant from Earth. Note the reddish color, which indicates a cool star that is very slowly dying.

13. The North Star, or Pole Star, has been used for millennia to navigate across land and sea. 10 15 = 1,000,000,000,000,000 Polaris (North Star) is 4.11 × 10 15 km or ~ 434 light-years from Earth

14. Milky Way Galaxy 10 17 2.55 × 10 17 km = ~27,000 ly Distance from Earth to center of Milky Way Galaxy 10 18 1 × 10 18 km = ~ 110,000 ly Diameter of Milky Way Galaxy

15. Secrets of space have opened new technologies that can lead to unlimited, clean energy and bountiful natural resources for the ever-adaptive human species. Ralph Baldasare PS: the last page of this presentation shows a list of links to other versions of the “Power of Ten”; enjoy.

16. How big is the Universe? At the present time, we can see objects that are 13- to 14-billlion light years from Earth, but we do not know if this is the edge of the Universe.

17. Choose your galaxy and go in peace.

18. Although the IBM version of the “Powers of 10” movie debuted in 1977, an early version was produced in the late 1960s from photographs available from NASA. The 1977 “Power of 10” can be viewed at Powers of 10 -film \ Interactive: The Universe-Solved! Version of "The Powers of 10" For a reference to scientific notation, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten A more theatrical rendition of the Power of 10 concept can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRjGarICal4 www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRjGarICal4 Zoom-in on some beautiful views of galaxies and nebula at www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WMTfT5GC2oQ www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WMTfT5GC2oQ An inspirational perspective can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-cpYhN2YOU ================================================== Variations of “Powers of Ten”