How deep is that, compared with things you know?
Depth is height turned upside down, and just as hard to picture. Here is where a number sits between the shallow end and the Mariana Trench.
1.08 × Statue of Liberty
100 m is deeper than 4 of the 9 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| swimming pool deep end | 2 m | 50× | |
| Olympic diving pool | 5 m | 20× | |
| recreational scuba limit | 40 m | 2.5× | |
| Statue of Liberty | 93 m | 1.08× | |
| deepest free dive | 214 m | 0.467× | No-limits apnoea record |
| deepest scuba dive | 332 m | 0.301× | |
| average ocean depth | 3,688 m | 1/36.9 | |
| Titanic | 3,800 m | 1/38 | |
| Mariana Trench | 10,935 m | 1/109 | Challenger Deep |
Worth knowing
- The Titanic lies at 3 800 m, deeper than the average ocean floor and beyond the reach of any crewed submarine until the 1980s.
- Pressure rises about one atmosphere every 10 m, so the Challenger Deep sits under more than 1 000 atmospheres — a tonne per square centimetre.
Frequently asked
How deep can a human dive?
On a single breath, the record is 214 m. On scuba with exotic gas mixes, 332 m. Beyond that only submersibles go, and only a handful have reached the trench floor.
Why is a log scale used here?
Because the shallow end of a pool and the Mariana Trench differ by a factor of 5 000. On a linear scale everything but the trench would be an invisible sliver.