16 subjects · 206 tools
Size & scale comparisons
A number on its own means nothing. Type one into any of these and it is drawn to scale against things you have actually stood next to — a door, a bus, a giraffe, the Eiffel Tower. Every drawing is in the HTML before any script runs, and every unit conversion behind it is exact.
- Height & size 16 tools
- Weight & mass 16 tools
- Speed & motion 13 tools
- Distance & travel 13 tools
- Area & land 12 tools
- Volume & capacity 12 tools
- Money & value 12 tools
- Time & duration 13 tools
- Data & digital 12 tools
- Energy & power 12 tools
- Space & astronomy 13 tools
- Nature & animals 13 tools
- Human body 13 tools
- World & people 12 tools
- Food & drink 12 tools
- Sound & light 12 tools
Height & size
How tall you are next to a giraffe, a bus, a T. rex or the Statue of Liberty — drawn to scale, not described.
- Celebrity height Put your height next to well-known actors, musicians and athletes, all drawn on the same baseline.
- Child height by age A child’s height against the median for every age from birth to eighteen.
- Height in bananas The internet’s favourite unit, worked out properly: your height divided by one 19 cm banana.
- Height in buses The British press unit of scale, worked out properly: any height in 4.38 m London buses.
- Height in Lego bricks Your height in stacked 2×4 Lego bricks, which are exactly 9.6 mm tall each.
- Height in phones Any height, converted into a stack of smartphones — the object everybody has to hand.
- Height vs animals Your height drawn beside a cat, a dog, a horse, an elephant, a giraffe and a polar bear.
- Height vs buildings Your height beside the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and the Burj Khalifa, drawn to scale.
- Height vs dinosaurs Your height against a velociraptor, a T. rex and a brachiosaurus, drawn on one baseline.
- How deep is that? A depth against a swimming pool, a scuba limit, a shipwreck and the deepest point in the ocean.
- How many people tall Enter any height and see how many average adults stacked head to foot would reach it.
- How tall am I? Enter your height and see it drawn to scale beside a door, a fridge, a giraffe, a bus and the average adult.
- NBA height Your height against NBA position averages and the tallest and shortest players in league history.
- Tallest buildings A building height against the tallest towers on Earth, drawn on one baseline.
- Tree height A tree’s height against typical garden trees, forest canopies and the tallest trees on Earth.
- Wave height A wave height against surfable swell, record big-wave rides and the largest waves ever measured.
Weight & mass
What your number weighs against animals, cars, aircraft and the things people actually lift.
- Backpack weight A pack weight against the guidance for hiking, school bags and military loads.
- Bench press standards A lift against beginner to elite standards and the current world records.
- Birth weight A newborn’s weight on a scale marked with the low, average and large thresholds clinicians use.
- Dog weight by breed A dog’s weight against typical adult weights for common breeds, from chihuahua to mastiff.
- How heavy am I? Your weight against a bowling ball, a washing machine, a golden retriever and a grand piano.
- How much is a tonne? A tonne made concrete: the everyday objects that add up to 1 000 kilograms.
- Luggage weight Your bag’s weight on a gauge marked with the usual cabin, checked and excess-fee thresholds.
- The weight of money A pile of banknotes and coins turned into kilograms — the reason heists need a van.
- Weight in bricks A mass in standard 2.7 kg clay bricks — the unit every builder already thinks in.
- Weight in cars Any mass expressed in 1.2 tonne family cars — the heaviest object most people own.
- Weight in cats Any weight, divided by one 4.5 kg house cat, drawn out as a room full of cats.
- Weight in elephants Big weights made legible: any mass divided by one six-tonne African elephant.
- Weight in gold bars A mass in 12.4 kg Good Delivery gold bars — the ones stacked in central-bank vaults.
- Weight in water bottles A weight in one-litre water bottles, which weigh exactly one kilogram each.
- Weight vs animals Your weight lined up against cats, dogs, bears, horses, elephants and a blue whale.
- Weight vs dinosaurs A weight against the best current mass estimates for the famous dinosaurs.
Speed & motion
Your pace against sprinters, cheetahs, trains, jets and the speed of sound.
- Braking distance Stopping distances at different speeds, drawn against things you can see out of the window.
- Cycling speed A cycling speed against commuters, club riders, the Tour de France and the human-powered record.
- Fraction of light speed Any speed as a percentage of c, with the fastest things humans and nature have managed.
- How fast is that? Any speed placed on one scale running from a garden snail to the speed of light.
- Reaction time A reaction time against sprinters, drivers, fighter pilots and the limits of nerve conduction.
- Running pace Your pace per kilometre against parkrun averages, club runners and world records.
- Speed in Mach A speed divided by the speed of sound, with the aircraft that fly at each multiple.
- Speed of sound in materials The speed of sound in air, water, wood, steel and diamond, on one scale.
- Speed vs animals Your top speed against the animals people most want to know they can escape.
- Swimming speed A swimming speed against Olympic swimmers, sharks, dolphins and a nuclear submarine.
- Throwing speed A ball speed against baseball pitches, cricket deliveries, tennis serves and record smashes.
- Vehicle top speeds A speed against bicycles, cars, trains, aircraft and rockets.
- Wind speed A wind speed on the Beaufort scale, from a calm day to a category 5 hurricane.
Distance & travel
How far that is in marathons, road trips, flights and trips around the planet.
- Commute distance A daily commute turned into weekly, yearly and lifetime distances, against journeys you would notice.
- Distance in football pitches The commentator’s unit made literal: any distance in 105 m football pitches.
- Distance in light time A distance expressed as light travel time, from a nanosecond across a desk to years across space.
- Distance in marathons Any distance divided by 42.195 km — the only running distance everyone knows by heart.
- Distance in steps A distance converted into steps, with the daily targets people actually chase.
- Driving distances A distance against famous road trips and typical daily driving.
- Flight distances A distance against the world’s best-known flight routes, from a shuttle hop to the longest route flown.
- How deep underground A depth against basements, metro tunnels, mines and the deepest hole ever drilled.
- How far can you see? Horizon distance from eye level, a ladder, a lighthouse, an airliner and orbit.
- How far is space? A distance against the layers of the atmosphere, the Kármán line and low Earth orbit.
- How far is that? Any distance placed between a football pitch, a marathon, a transatlantic flight and the Moon.
- Longest things A length against the longest rivers, walls, railways, tunnels and bridges built or found.
- Times around the world A total distance divided by one lap of the equator — 40 075 kilometres.
Area & land
Floor plans, gardens, farms and countries, drawn as squares whose area is the number.
- Area in football pitches The news unit for land area: any area divided by one 7 140 m² football pitch.
- Area in tennis courts Any area in 260.87 m² tennis courts, the standard unit for a medium-sized space.
- City and park sizes An area against city centres, famous parks, airports and islands.
- Country sizes An area against countries, states and islands, from Monaco to Russia.
- Forest loss An area of forest against annual losses, national parks and whole countries.
- Garden size A garden or plot against typical UK and US gardens, allotments and small farms.
- House sizes A floor area against typical homes in different countries and eras.
- How big is that area? Any area drawn as a square beside a parking space, a tennis court and a football pitch.
- Paint coverage A wall area against the coverage of a standard tin of paint, coat by coat.
- Room sizes A room’s floor area against typical bedrooms, kitchens, offices and studios.
- Screen area Screen sizes compared by area rather than diagonal, which is how they are always sold.
- Solar panel area A roof area against the array sizes that produce useful amounts of electricity.
Volume & capacity
Bottles, baths, tanks and swimming pools — how much actually fits.
- Blood volume A volume against a blood donation, total blood volume and the thresholds that matter clinically.
- Cooking volumes A kitchen volume against teaspoons, tablespoons, cups and the tins recipes assume.
- Daily water use A daily water figure against showers, flushes, laundry and the hidden water in food.
- Drink sizes A drink volume against shots, glasses, cans, pints and coffee-shop cup sizes.
- Engine size An engine displacement against scooters, family cars, supercars and ship engines.
- Fuel tanks A tank capacity against cars, trucks, ships and an Airbus A380.
- How much is that? Any volume placed between a teaspoon, a bathtub, a tanker and an Olympic swimming pool.
- Lakes and reservoirs A volume against reservoirs, famous lakes, seas and the world ocean.
- Olympic pools The standard media unit for large volumes: any volume in 2 500 m³ pools.
- Rainfall volume Millimetres of rain turned into the litres that actually land on a roof or a field.
- Shipping containers A volume in 20-foot containers, the box that global trade is counted in.
- Volume in bathtubs A volume divided by one 150-litre bath — the largest container in most homes.
Money & value
What an amount buys, how long it takes to earn, and how it stacks against famous fortunes.
- Billionaire scale Great fortunes drawn against median incomes, houses and lifetime earnings.
- Cost per use A purchase price divided by how often you use it, against everyday spends.
- Energy bills A yearly running cost against typical household appliances and the whole bill.
- Film budgets A production budget against real films, from micro-budget hits to the most expensive ever made.
- How much money is that? Any amount placed on one scale from a coffee to the whole world economy.
- Salary comparison A salary against national medians, minimum wages and the thresholds that define each bracket.
- Space mission costs A budget against launches, rovers, telescopes and the whole Apollo programme.
- Subscription costs A monthly subscription total turned into yearly and ten-year costs, against real purchases.
- Time to earn it An amount of money converted into working hours, days and years at different wages.
- Tipping around the world A tip percentage against the customary rate in different countries and situations.
- What could you buy? An amount turned into the things it would pay for, from coffees to houses.
- What things used to cost An amount against what the same money bought in earlier decades.
Time & duration
Where a span of time sits between a heartbeat, a human life and the age of the Earth.
- A human life A lifespan broken into the years spent asleep, working, eating and looking at screens.
- Cooking times A cooking time against the things everyone has stood waiting for.
- Dog years An age translated between human and dog years, using the curve rather than the myth.
- Geological time A span of years against extinctions, ice ages, the first life and the formation of the Earth.
- How long is that in songs? A duration in three-and-a-half-minute songs, episodes and films.
- How long is that wait? A wait against the delays everyone knows: a kettle, an advert, a queue, a flight.
- How long is that? Any duration placed between a blink, a human lifetime and the age of the universe.
- How long will it take? An estimate in hours placed against the real length of familiar tasks and projects.
- Million vs billion seconds The single clearest demonstration of the gap between a million and a billion.
- Screen time A daily screen time turned into weeks a year and years of a life.
- Sleep duration A night’s sleep on a scale marked with the recommended range for each age.
- Travel times A travel time against walking, driving, flying and spacecraft on the same trip.
- Your age in heartbeats An age converted into days, hours, breaths and heartbeats.
Data & digital
Files, downloads, screens and storage, with decimal and binary prefixes kept apart.
- Backup times A backup size against realistic transfer times over each kind of connection.
- Download times A connection speed against the time it takes to move real files.
- GB vs GiB The decimal and binary prefixes side by side, and the gap that grows with every step.
- How big is that file? A file size placed between a text message, a photo, an HD film and a hard drive.
- How many photos fit? A storage capacity in phone photos, RAW files and 4K video.
- How much text is that? A file size expressed in words, pages and whole novels — the units text actually comes in.
- Memory sizes A memory size against machines from the Apollo Guidance Computer to a modern server.
- Message volume A count of messages against what people actually send in a day, a year and a lifetime.
- Password strength A password’s entropy in bits, against the guessing effort each level really costs.
- Screen resolutions A resolution in total pixels, against every screen standard from VGA to 8K.
- Streaming data use An hour of streaming at each quality level, against a monthly mobile allowance.
- The size of the internet Global data volumes against the files on your own drive.
Energy & power
Kettles, cars, power stations and lightning, on one scale you can actually read.
- Appliance power A wattage against the appliances in a home, from an LED bulb to an electric shower.
- Battery capacity A battery capacity against phones, laptops, power tools, cars and grid storage.
- Calories in things A calorie count against meals, exercise and the energy in other things entirely.
- Carbon footprint Emissions in kilograms of CO₂, against flights, meals, driving and a whole year of living.
- Earthquake energy Earthquake magnitudes converted into energy — the scale that shows why each step matters so much.
- Exercise energy The energy cost of an hour of each activity, against the food it corresponds to.
- Explosion energy An energy release against firecrackers, industrial accidents, bombs and asteroid impacts.
- Fuel energy density Energy per kilogram for batteries, wood, petrol, hydrogen and uranium.
- Heating a home A yearly heating demand against homes of different sizes and standards.
- How much energy is that? Any amount of energy placed between a AA battery, a tank of petrol and an atomic bomb.
- Human power output Human output in watts, against the machines that replaced it.
- Power plant output A power output against wind turbines, gas plants, nuclear reactors and whole grids.
Space & astronomy
Planet sizes, orbital distances, light travel time and what you would weigh elsewhere.
- Cosmic timeline A moment in cosmic history against the Big Bang, the first stars and the formation of Earth.
- Distances in space A distance against orbits, the Moon, the outer planets and the nearest stars.
- Escape velocity Escape velocity from each planet, moon and star, against speeds you already know.
- Jumping on other worlds A standing jump recalculated for the gravity of each planet and moon.
- Light travel time Light travel times from the Moon, the Sun, the planets and the nearest galaxies.
- Orbit altitudes An orbital altitude against the ISS, imaging satellites, GPS and geostationary orbit.
- Planet sizes Every planet drawn to the same scale, with the Sun and the Moon for reference.
- Rocket sizes A rocket height against Falcon 9, the Saturn V, Starship and the Statue of Liberty.
- Satellites in orbit A satellite count against the constellations now in orbit and the debris around them.
- Scale model solar system The solar system shrunk to a walkable scale, with every planet’s distance and size.
- Star sizes Stellar diameters from white dwarfs to hypergiants, with the Sun and Earth for scale.
- Temperatures in space A temperature against space, the planets, the Sun’s surface and its core.
- Weight on other planets Your weight recalculated for the surface gravity of every planet, the Moon and the Sun.
Nature & animals
Wingspans, bite forces, lifespans, tree heights and how fast things grow.
- Animal heart rates A heart rate against shrews, humans, elephants and whales.
- Animal lifespans A lifespan against mayflies, dogs, humans, whales and a 500-year-old clam.
- Animal populations A population against endangered species, livestock, humans and ants.
- Bite force A bite force against humans, dogs, big cats, crocodiles and a T. rex.
- Egg sizes An egg against hummingbirds, hens, ostriches and the extinct elephant bird.
- How fast things grow A growth rate against bamboo, hair, fingernails, trees and glaciers.
- Migration distances A journey against the great annual migrations, from butterflies to Arctic terns.
- Ocean depth zones A depth against the light zones of the ocean and the animals that live in each.
- Rainfall An annual rainfall against deserts, cities, rainforests and the wettest places on Earth.
- Storm scale A storm’s size and strength against hurricanes, tornadoes and the largest systems on record.
- Temperatures in nature A temperature against records, body heat, boiling points and lava.
- What things are made of Water content by percentage across the human body, animals, food and the planet.
- Wingspans A wingspan against birds, bats, prehistoric fliers and a Boeing 747.
Human body
Heartbeats, breaths, steps, blood, hair and the other numbers hiding inside you.
- A lifetime of eating Lifetime totals for food, water, coffee and everything else that goes in.
- Age milestones An age against the physical milestones the body reaches on the way through.
- Blood pumped The volume your heart pumps in a minute, a day and a lifetime, against tanks and pools.
- BMI scale A body mass index on the scale of the WHO categories, with their limits made explicit.
- Body proportions Body measurements against the classical proportions artists have used for centuries.
- Body temperature A body temperature against the thresholds for hypothermia, fever and heatstroke.
- Breaths in a lifetime A number of breaths, and the volume of air that passes through you.
- Cells and surfaces Cell counts and internal surface areas that turn out to be far larger than the body containing them.
- Daily steps A daily step count against sedentary, active and athlete-level activity.
- Hair and nails Growth rates for hair and nails, and what they add up to over a lifetime.
- Heartbeats in a lifetime A number of heartbeats against a minute, a day, a year and a whole life.
- Radiation dose A radiation dose against bananas, flights, scans and the thresholds where harm starts.
- Sleep debt Accumulated sleep debt against the effects that have been measured at each level.
World & people
Populations, countries, crowds and how a number lands against eight billion people.
- Births and deaths Global birth and death rates per second, minute, day and year.
- City comparison A city population against the largest metropolitan areas in the world.
- Crowd sizes A crowd size against stadiums, festivals, protests and the largest gatherings ever.
- Global income An income against the global distribution, not the national one.
- How land is used An area as a share of Earth’s land, against farming, forest, cities and ice.
- Internet users A user count against the platforms, countries and the whole connected world.
- Language speakers A speaker count against the world’s largest languages, by native and total speakers.
- Life expectancy A life expectancy against countries, and against the historical record.
- Population density A population density against countries, cities and the emptiest places on Earth.
- Share of the world A percentage against the shares that make up humanity, land, water and wealth.
- Time zones A time difference against the world’s time zones and the extremes of the system.
- World population A headcount against cities, countries, continents and the whole world.
Food & drink
Calories, caffeine, sugar, alcohol and portions, measured in things you have eaten.
- Alcohol units A drink converted into UK units and US standard drinks, against weekly guidance.
- Caffeine content A caffeine dose against coffee, tea, energy drinks and the daily limit.
- Calorie density Calories per 100 grams across foods, which explains far more than calorie counts alone.
- Chilli heat A Scoville rating against peppers, sauces and pepper spray.
- Coffee consumption A yearly coffee habit in cups, kilograms of beans and cost.
- Food waste A quantity of wasted food against household, national and global totals.
- Food water footprint The hidden water behind common foods, per kilogram.
- Portion sizes Portion sizes then and now, for the foods where the change is starkest.
- Protein content Protein per serving across common foods, against daily requirements.
- Recipe scaling Standard per-person quantities for the ingredients people always guess at.
- Salt content Salt per serving across foods, against the recommended daily maximum.
- Sugar in drinks The sugar in a drink shown as teaspoons, against the daily recommended maximum.
Sound & light
Loudness, brightness, frequency and wavelength, against sounds and lights you know.
- Brightness An illuminance against moonlight, a lit room, an office and direct sunlight.
- Bulb brightness A lumen figure against the old incandescent wattages everyone still thinks in.
- Camera exposure Shutter speeds, apertures and ISO on the stops scale they all share.
- Colour temperature A kelvin figure against candlelight, bulbs, daylight and a clear blue sky.
- Echo distance A delay converted into distance, using the speed of sound.
- Frequency range A frequency against human hearing, musical notes and the animals that hear beyond us.
- How hot is that? A temperature from absolute zero to the centre of a star, on one logarithmic scale.
- How loud is that? A decibel level against whispers, traffic, concerts, jet engines and the damage thresholds.
- Light wavelength A wavelength against the visible spectrum and the invisible bands either side.
- Noise at home Household noise levels against the thresholds for annoyance and sleep disruption.
- Note frequencies A frequency against the notes of equal temperament, octave by octave.
- Safe listening time The exposure time before hearing damage begins, at each sound level.