←back to thread

Size of Life

(neal.fun)
2530 points eatonphil | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
runtimepanic ◴[] No.46222298[source]
Tools like this are surprisingly effective for teaching, especially compared to static diagrams. Interaction makes the scale differences stick.
replies(2): >>46222368 #>>46224300 #
abustamam ◴[] No.46222368[source]
When my daughter is old enough, I'm definitely going to show her a bunch of visualizations on Neal's site as supplementary education. I learned so much from these visualizations as an adult, and even without being able to read you can get a sense of scale.
replies(2): >>46222441 #>>46235363 #
1. mncharity ◴[] No.46235363[source]
> When my daughter is old enough

Fwiw, I've done a pinch-nail-hand-arms 1-10-100-1000 mm "body as size reference" a couple of times around 5ish. And a 1000x "micro view" "pinch is zoomed to arms size" "it's like a scale model or doll playset - everything zoomed together" world of "bacteria sprinkles, red blood cell candies (M&M minis or concave Smarties minis or Sweetarts - there's lots of cell candy analogs), hair poles, salt/sugar boxes". Stories of sitting on a grain of salt and eating... etc; pet eyelash mites. No idea if it actually worked.

I did some user-test videos, now only on archive.org.[1] Hmm... the "Arms, hands" video there now doesn't seem to play inline? - but does wget'ed and browsered. :/

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20221007220513/www.clarifyscienc...

replies(1): >>46241211 #
2. abustamam ◴[] No.46241211[source]
Hey that's cool! I like that idea