Size and Number Page

Size of things

Size in biology
Other sizes

Number

Number in biology
Collection of other numbers

Rate

Rates in biology
Collection of other rates

Frequency of occurrence

Frequency in biology
Other frequencies

Statistics

Biological statistics
Other statistics

Unit Conversions

Energy
Speed
Size
Power

Entries by topic

Size of things

Size in biology

10 - 20 um, Typical animal cell
5 - 8 um, Granule cell (brain neuron)
2 - 4 um Length, E. coli
.1 - 2 um, Peroxisome
6 m, DNA in a human cell, stretched out.
300 cM, size of D. melanogaster linkage map.
3000 cM, size of human linkage map.
50 - 250 cM, range of human chromosome linkage maps.
112 Mb == 62 cM (1.8 Mb/cM) mouse Chr 16.
The body of each nerve cell - glowing as bright red dots in a microscopic picture of the rings - measures 20 microns (millionths of a metre), or two-fifths the width of a human hair. Each nerve fibre or axon in the rings is one micron wide - about one-fiftieth the width of a human hair.³⁴

Other sizes

3,717,792 sq mi (9,629,091 sq km) area of US
3,536,274 sq mi (9,158,960 sq km) US land-only area
181,518 sq mi (470,131 sq km) US water area
6.2% US percent of world land area.

Number

Number in biology

10⁸antibody variable region combinations possible.
10⁴ Acetylcholine (Ach) molecules released per packet in a synapse.
10⁹ Ohm seal routinely made during a patch clamp (electrophysiology).
10³ Ion channels in a typical cell.
2 x 10⁷ Ions/s flow thru an open nicotinic Acetylcholine (Ach) receptor.
10³ Impulses/s firing rate can occur at a neuromuscular synapse.
3 x 10⁶ Cone cells in a human retina.
10⁸ Rod cells in a human retina.
10⁷ Yeast cells contain 1 ng of a 100 kb chromosome.
10¹² Cells in a human brain.
2.4 x 10⁶ Nephons/ 2 human kidneys
50,000 - 100,000 Genes in the human genome.
3,000 Human gene sequences known (5/94).
3.2 x 10⁹ bp in the human genome.
10⁸ - 3 x 10⁸ bp per human chromosome.
1 - 1.6 x 10⁸ bp in D. melanogaster genome.
6 x 10⁷ - 10⁸ D. melanogaster chromosome size range across different speices.
8 x 10⁷ bp in the C. elegans geneome (outdated).
2 x 10⁷ bp in the S. cerevisiae geneome (outdated).
3 x 10⁶ bp in the E. coli geneome (outdated).
100,000 LINE repetitive elements in the human genome (1% of the genome).
5- 10 x 10⁵ Alu repetitive elements in the human genome (7% of the genome).
10⁵ (CA)_n Repeats in the mouse genome, n = 9 - 30 usually
12 - 100 Variable # tandem repeats (VNTR) in the human genome.
38 Ty1 elements in the S. cerevisiae genome.
~100 Ty1 repeats, counting both active and inactive in the S. cerevisiae genome.
10¹¹ peptides in a phage display library (T7 or bacteriophage lambda host)⁴.
3 x 10⁷, 1.77 x 10⁸, 3.7 x 10⁹ peptides in a commercial phage display library⁴.
There are 20⁷ == 1.28 x 10⁹ 7-mer peptides⁴.
10⁹ lipid molecules/cell.
.72 cm²/g partial specific volume for protein (for estimating protein volume).
50 - 100 m² lung exchange surface area (human).
~3 x 10⁶ alveoli in the lung (human)
1/3 mm, diameter of alveoli.
Resolution of light microscope, 1 mm - .5 um (.2 um theoretical limit).
Sections for light microscope, typically 1 - 10 um thick.
Electron microscope, 100 um - .1 nm resolution (.002 nm theoretical limit).
Sections for electron microscope, typically 50 - 100 nm thick.
Scanning electron microscope, ~10 nm resolution.
Female human genetic map 1.9X larger than the male.
This year [1999], more than half the soybeans and a third of the corn grown in the United States were genetically modified.¹⁵
1.7 million, approximate number of described species.
1,407 pathogens viruses, bacteria, parasites, protozoa and fungi that can infect humans, said Mark Woolhouse of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Of those, 58 percent come from animals. Scientists consider 177 of the pathogens to be emerging or re-emerging.³⁸

Collection of other numbers

280 ppm, CO² concentration before human inputs.
265 ppm in 800ad to over 360ppm in 2000. The last century saw 90% of this increase.
site with graphs
geostationairy orbit is about 0.12 lightseconds above the equator
7 major movie studios in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
1,800 daily newspapers in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
11,000 magazines in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
11,000 radio stations in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
2,000 TV stations in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
2,500 book publishers in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
23 corporations own and control over 50% of the business in each medium; in some cases they have a virtual monopoly in the USA (1992)¹⁷.
4.5 pounds of sunlight fall on the earth every day.

Rate

Rates in biology

10^-8 cm²/s diffusion rate of lipids in a cell membrane.

Collection of other rates

Frequency of occurrence

Frequency in biology

10^-5 loss/division of mitotic fidelity (yeast?).
.1% polymorphism between indivuduals (human).

Frequency of inherited diseases

.1 - 1% of the human population have chromosomal abnormalities.
.1% polymorphism between indivuduals (human).
95% of Down syndrome cases arises from non-disjunction.
1 in 700 live births, Down Syndrome incidence.
Approximately 4,000 Down syndrome children are born in the United States each year.⁵
>=13 per 100,000 live births, frequency of Chr 22q11.2 deletions, making 22q11 deletion the second most common cause of congenital heart disease after Down syndrome.⁶
>=1 per 2500 live births, frequency of Cftr in live Caucasian births.
60% of the Arctic sea ice has melted in the last 40 years⁶.

Frequency of diseases

Epilepsy affects more than .5% of the world's population and has a large genetic component¹
1/3 of all humans are currently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis⁸.
Nearly 50 million people have contracted HIV since the virus was first recognized, with over 14 million people dying from AIDS. An estimated 34 million people currently live with HIV, 6 million of whom contracted the virus last year. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit particularly hard, accounting for 70 percent of the world's infections and 90 percent of AIDS deaths. At least one-tenth of the populations of 12 African nations carry HIV, with one-quarter of adults in Zimbabwe and Botswana infected with the virus¹⁰.
Asthma is now the leading serious chronic illness among youth, afflicting about 9 million children.³⁶

Frequency of causes of death

The top ten causes of death in the United States in 1994 were
1. heart disease (734,000)
2. cancer (536,860)
3. stroke (154,350)
4. adverse drug reactions (106,000)
5. chronic obstructive lung diseases (101,870)
6. accidents (90,140)
7. pneumonia/influenza (82,090)
8. diabetes (55,390)
9. HIV/AIDS (41,930)
10. suicide (32,410)
HIV/AIDS deaths dropped to 37,500 in 1996 and further to 21,909 in 1997.

Other frequencies

Statistics

Biological statistic

1/3 of ATP used by a resting animal consumed by the Na+/K+ ATPase.
1/3 of the surface area of the sarcoplasmic reticulum taken up by Ca++ ATPase.
80% of integral membrane protein of the sarcoplasmic reticulum is Ca++ ATPase.
In the Node of Ranvier (on nerve axons), 1/2 the membrane surface is occupied by Na+ channels.
Flagellar rotaion (in bacteria) has an of energy efficiency of 50%.
1% of the human genome is LINE repetitive elements.
7% of the human genome is Alu repetitive elements.
Typical cell is 70% H₂O
50% of animal cell plasma membrane surface area is lipid.
1% recombination between yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) for every 4 kb of homologous DNA.
1/1000 incidents of DNA damage result in mutation (likely bacteria ref.)
100/2000 (out of date) genes in E. coli involved in DNA repair.
10⁴/day apurinic bases spontaneously hydrolyse N-glycolsyl.
10²/day apyrimidic bases spontaneously hydrolyse N-glycolsyl.
10²/day spontaneous deaminations of A, C, or G
10³/day thymidine dimers for each skin cell in 'normal' sunlight (H. sapiens)
10^-8 errors/bp from E. coli polymerase.
10^-5 errors/bp from Klenow fragment of polymerase.
A few kb/min. replicated in eukaryotes (3000bp/min.).
100 kb/min. replicated in E. coli (40 min. to replicate entire genome)
Several Mb/3 min. replicated in early D. melanogaster embryo.

Other statistics

< 5 deaths/yr.: The most recent statistics continue to show that marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, peyote, mescaline and mushrooms put together account for fewer than five deaths per year (USA)¹³.
Hospital emergency room reports show a total of 6,500 teens nationwide were treated for any kind of marijuana or hashish effects in 1995-less than 0.1 percent of the 10 million teenage ER visits, and only one-fourth the number of teens treated for adverse affects from aspirin or Tylenol (Drug Abuse Warning Network, Annual Emergency Department Data, 1994). Further, four-fifths of these 6,500 "marijuana" treatments involved youths who had also ingested more dangerous drugs, such as alcohol. Only 1,300 teen emergency cases involved marijuana alone, the same number attributed to the allergy medication Benadryl (USA)¹³.
400,000 annual deaths from tobacco (USA)¹³.
100,000 annual deaths from alcohol, including 20,000 from drunken driving (USA)¹³.
6,000-9,000 annual deaths from pharmaceuticals (USA)¹³.
560,000 ER visits for drugs: Federal Drug Abuse Warning Network reports that of the 560,000 people brought to hospital emergency rooms for abusing illegal drugs in 1995 the companion drug most often mixed with heroin, cocaine, pot or speed was...alcohol (USA)¹³.
Up to 5% of domestic air pollution comes from garden equipment powered by extremely inefficient two-stroke engines that burn both oil and gasoline²³.
53 million children enrolled in school across the United States (2000).
Jamie Love: I spend a lot of time on R&D issues, for example as a member of the MSF working group on Drugs for Neglected Diseases, and also proposing various approaches for R&D treaties. It does cost a lot to develop a drug, but not as much as one might think. If you look at the Orphan Drug Tax Credit, for example, you find that in 1998 drug companies spent only $8.6 million on clinical trials per approved orphan product, a major development cost. Of course for some drugs this can be much more expensive, running into tens of millions of dollars. The most difficult and risky part of drug development is the pre-clinical stage, where there is less data. In general, the US pharmaceutical industry spends about 7.5 percent of sales on R&D, according to its tax returns. This amounts to a lot of money, but even here, a lot of this is fairly low priority stuff, such as "me-too" drugs.²⁷
14.5 million students in American colleges and universities today. In 1975 there were a little over 11 million; in 1965 there were fewer than 6 million²⁸
According to the Carnegie Foundation classification (the industry standard), there are 3,941 higher education institutions in the United States. Only 228 of these--5.8 percent of the total--are four-year liberal arts colleges that are not part of universities. Even in the major research universities (the schools categorized as Doctoral/ Research-Extensive in the Carnegie classification, including such schools as Harvard, Yale, and the University of Chicago), only half of the bachelor's degrees are awarded in liberal arts fields (that is, the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities). In fact, apart from a small rise between 1955 and 1970, the number of undergraduate degrees awarded annually in the liberal arts has been declining for a century. The expansion of American higher education has been centripetal, away from the traditional liberal arts core. The biggest undergraduate major by far in the United States is business. Twenty percent of all BAs are awarded in that field. Ten percent are in education. Seven percent are in the health professions. There are almost twice as many undergraduate degrees conferred every year in a field that calls itself "protective services"--and is largely concerned with training social workers--as there are in all foreign languages and literatures combined.²⁸
$162,557.28 [wsj.com] for full-page black & white in all three U.S. editions (Oct. 2001).
Miles of U.S. coastal shoreline: 95,000
Square miles of U.S. waters: 3.5 million
Number of Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel: 35,000
Number of Coast Guard cutters 100 feet and over: 146
Number of Coast Guard planes: 221
Number of square miles of U.S. waters per member of Coast Guard: 100
Number of square miles of U.S. waters per Coast Guard cutter: 239,726
Number of square miles of U.S. waters per Coast Guard plane: 158,371
KEVIN FULLERTON, SEATTLE WEEKLY - The Puget Sound Regional Council says we spend about $26 billion locally, or 25 percent of our personal incomes, just for the privilege of moving around. And it's not light rail that's eating a hole in your pocket. We each paid about $5,400 in 1998 to drive a car, but only $690 to fund buses, ferries, and other public transit, the PSRC calculates. Think the price is worth it for all that individual mobility? Those numbers don't even begin to get at the real costs of cars, says PSRC's Ralph Cipriani . . . Parking is one of the biggest hidden costs of driving. In many cases, your car costs more sitting still than it does running down the street. A 1996 report from Northwest Environment Watch estimated that a parking space adds about 10 cents per mile to the cost of a daily commute. A typical commercial development dedicates more space to parking than it does to offices and stores. That drives up construction costs, in some cases as much as 18 percent, which means your rent, plate of pasta, and coffee cost more. But the cost of parking gets even more personal: Chances are your employer could pay you as much as $2,000 more per year for what it costs to hold a parking space for you. Drivers can't even enjoy the smug satisfaction that they themselves are paying for the convenience of their cars. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that roadway-user fees and taxes (such as the gas tax and vehicle registration fees) pay for only about 60 percent of public expenditures for roadway construction and repairs. The rest has to be paid for by the public at large through sales and property taxes. Residents of cities that have made heavy investments in public transit, such as New York City, pay $2,500 less per year for mobility than do residents of car-dependent cities like Houston, points out Peter Hurley of the Transportation Choices Coalition³¹.

Unit conversions

Energy

10,300 BTU/kWh

Speed

Size

Power

1 hp = 550 ft*lbs/sec = 0.746 kilowatts
9600 Watt-hours/l gasoline (approx.)
3.5 Watt-hours/l at STP hydrogen

Entries by topic

Biological topics

Electrophysiology

10⁹ Ohm seal routinely made during a patch clamp (electrophysiology).
10^-12 F = 1 pF typical cell capacitance.

Ion channels

10⁴ Acetylcholine (Ach) molecules released per packet in a synapse.
10³ Ion channels in a typical cell.
1/3 of the surface area of the sarcoplasmic reticulum taken up by Ca++ ATPase.
80% of integral membrane protein of the sarcoplasmic reticulum is Ca++ ATPase.
In the Node of Ranvier (on nerve axons), 1/2 the membrane surface is occupied by Na+ channels.
2 x 10⁷ Ions/s flow thru an open nicotinic Acetylcholine (Ach) receptor.
10³ Impulses/s firing rate can occur at a neuromuscular synapse.

DNA damage

1/1000 incidents of DNA damage result in mutation (likely bacteria ref.)
100/2000 (out of date) genes in E. coli involved in DNA repair.
10⁴/day apurinic bases spontaneously hydrolyse N-glycolsyl.
10²/day apyrimidic bases spontaneously hydrolyse N-glycolsyl.
10²/day spontaneous deaminations of A, C, or G
10³/day thymidine dimers for each skin cell in 'normal' sunlight (H. sapiens)
10^-8 errors/bp from E. coli polymerase.
10^-5 errors/bp from Klenow fragment of polymerase.
3 milliSievert/yr (mSv/yr), natural background radiation dose rate¹².

Genetics

300 cM, size of D. melanogaster linkage map.
3000 cM, size of human linkage map.
Female human genetic map 1.9X larger than the male.
50 - 250 cM, range of human chromosome linkage maps.
112 Mb == 62 cM (1.8 Mb/cM) mouse Chr 16.
.1% polymorphism between indivuduals (human).
.1 - 1% of the human population have chromosomal abnormalities.
95% of Down syndrome cases arises from non-disjunction.
1 in 700 live births, Down Syndrome incidence.
Approximately 4,000 Down syndrome children are born in the United States each year.⁵
10^-5 loss/division of mitotic fidelity (yeast?).
1% recombination between yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) for every 4 kb of homologous DNA.

Microscopy

Resolution of light microscope, 1 mm - .5 um (.2 um theoretical limit).
Sections for light microscope, typically 1 - 10 um thick.
Electron microscope, 100 um - .1 nm resolution (.002 nm theoretical limit).
Sections for electron microscope, typically 50 - 100 nm thick.
Scanning electron microscope, ~10 nm resolution.

Genomics

Genome Size

3.2 x 10⁹ bp in the human genome.
10⁸ - 3 x 10⁸ bp per human chromosome.
1 - 1.6 x 10⁸ bp in D. melanogaster genome.
6 x 10⁷ - 10⁸ D. melanogaster chromosome size range across different speices.
8 x 10⁷ bp in the C. elegans geneome (outdated).
2 x 10⁷ bp in the S. cerevisiae geneome (outdated).
3 x 10⁶ bp in the E. coli geneome (outdated).
Status of geneome sequencing.
2.1 x 10⁷ bp in Genbank, 3 x 10⁶ sequences (3/99)

Genes

2.2 x 10⁶ ESTs in Genbank (3/99).
50,000 - 100,000 Genes in the human genome.
3,000 Human gene sequences known (Named human genes) (5/94).

Repetitive DNA

100,000 LINE repetitive elements in the human genome (1% of the genome).
5- 10 x 10⁵ Alu repetitive elements in the human genome (7% of the genome).
10⁵ (CA)_n Repeats in the mouse genome, n = 9 - 30 usually
12 - 100 Variable # tandem repeats (VNTR) in the human genome.
1% of the human genome is LINE repetitive elements.
7% of the human genome is Alu repetitive elements.
38 Ty1 elements in the S. cerevisiae genome.
~100 Ty1 repeats, counting both active and inactive in the S. cerevisiae genome.