Thursday, February 10, 2011

QQC Part Nine

Quote: "1 nanometer, as well as being the decimal fraction of 1/1,000,000,000.) DNA, the molecule that holds together and makes up all our genes, is 2 nanometers (nm) in diameter (although if it was stretched out in a line, it would be 6 feet (1.8 m) long-it's a long and very coiled-up molecule within each of our cells).

I think that the when you read this quote the first time you almost have to do a a double take. At first a nanometer seems obviously small due to the prefix nano, but when the conversion is made to a fraction, one can truly see how small this measurement is. But the kicker is that in only 2 nanometers of DNA, remembering that this is only in one cell too, there exists 6 feet worth of strands when laid straight out. This is huge considering how many cells exist in the human body. So this brings up my question, if we were to collect every nanometer of DNA from a human body and stretch it into a straight line, would it be enough to stretch around the world? (If you know the answer please feel free to comment)

No comments:

Post a Comment