Return to Scale View
About News Create With Us
Return to Scale View

How big is DNA?

DNA is 10 nanomètres

Introduction: What is DNA?

Have you ever wondered what makes you, you? What makes your eyes blue or brown, or your hair straight or curly? The answer lies in something incredibly small but unbelievably important - your DNA! DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic Acid, is a tiny molecule that carries the blueprint for who you are. It’s a lot like a recipe book, containing all the instructions needed to make every part of your body.

The Size of DNA

Even though DNA holds such significant information, it’s astonishingly small. If you could see DNA with your eyes, you might be surprised to find out just how tiny it is. In fact, DNA is so small that millions of strands could fit inside a single drop of water. A single DNA molecule measures about 2.5 nanometers in diameter. Let’s put that in perspective. Imagine a piece of hair from your head, which is already quite thin. Now, imagine something about 40,000 times thinner than that. That’s roughly the size of one DNA molecule!

Comparing the Size of DNA

Let’s make some more comparisons to understand the size of DNA better:

  • A DNA molecule is about 20 times smaller than a bacterium, one of the smallest living organisms we know of.
  • If a DNA molecule were the size of a grain of sand, then an average human cell would be as big as a football stadium!
  • If you could line up all the DNA molecules in your body end to end, they would reach from the Earth to the Sun and back over 600 times!

The Structure of DNA

DNA looks like a spiraling ladder or a twisted rope. This shape is known as a double helix. DNA is made up of two strands, and each strand is made up of small building blocks called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is made of three parts: a sugar, a phosphate, and a base. The bases are what make each DNA molecule unique, like the individual letters in a book.

Interesting Facts about DNA

  • The human body has about 37 trillion cells, and each cell contains a copy of your DNA.
  • About 99.9% of the DNA in all humans is identical. It’s the 0.1% that makes us unique!
  • Humans share about 98% of their DNA with chimpanzees, our closest living relatives.
  • The DNA in your body is so long that if it was stretched out, it would be about twice the diameter of the Solar System! In conclusion, DNA may be incredibly small, but it’s also incredibly important. This tiny molecule holds the instructions for all life on Earth, making it one of the most fascinating things in our universe.
Smaller By Category
Phospholipid Bilayer
Cell membranes are made of phospholipid bilayers. Phospholipid bilayers can form naturally because the heads attract to water and the tails repel from water. As a result, tails clump together, forming the bilayer.
Transistor Gate
Transistors in computers are continuing to get smaller. In 1971, they were 400 times larger at 10 micrometers. Now we are down to 5 nanometers, but in the future, they might be even smaller. How small will they get? Moore's Law predicts we can make new transistors half as big as before every 2 years.
Phospholipid
Phospholipids are beautifully amazing little molecules, and you have millions of millions of millions of them in your body. Phospholipids are actually a special type of lipid that make up cell membranes.
Larger By Category
Porcine circovirus
The Porcine circovirus is one of the smallest viruses. It only requires three proteins to replicate. If you consider viruses to be alive, then the Porcine circovirus is the smallest living thing. However, scientists disagree whether viruses are alive or not.
Hepatitis B Virus
Hepatitis B infects a lot of humans. In fact, almost one third of the world population has been infected at some point. This virus can cause vomiting, liver inflammation, and possibly death, but you most likely won't even notice if you have it at all!
Ultraviolet Wavelength
Ultraviolet light can give you a tan. I used to think the sunlight and heat burnt your skin to make it darker, like how a barbecue grill turns all of the food black. Now I know that's not true.