Workshop animated by the Italian team during the comenius meeting in Rome

1. A MODEL OF
MICRO AND MACRO COSMOS
WORKSHOP
2°H & Leonarda Fucili
SMS “G.G.Belli”, Rome
Comenius School Partnership
“M.E.T.E.R”
ROME, 15-20 March 2010

2. Comenius School Partnership “M.E.T.E.R”
Meeting in ROME 16 -20 March 2010
WORKSHOP n. 2
HOW TO CONSTRUCT THE MODEL OF THE MICRO AND MACROCOSM:
THE UNIVERSE IN POWERS OF TEN
Trainers: students of the class 2°H & Leonarda Fucili
SMS “G.G.Belli”, Rome
The model is like a notebook. On the central pages we shall put the human being and it is our start
point to the both directions: on the left there will be the microcosm and on the right the macrocosm.
We don’t know if there is a limit to both of them!
We start our trip to the micro- and macrocosm from the human dimension (as powers of ten it is
100 = 1m.), and we’ll go on step by step.
The first step to the microcosm is the dimension of a hand (10-1 m = 1 dm), then a nail (10-2 m = 1
cm), then a pin (10-3 m = 1 mm), then the limit of the human visibility (10-4 m = 1/10 mm). If we
continue we shall meet cells (the size of a cell is about 10-6 m = 1 Å), cell nucleus and then
molecules: DNA molecule is about (10-9 m = 1 nanometre). The size of an atom is about (10-10 m)
and the size of its nucleus is about 10-15 m.
Smaller sized particles also exist, such as protons, neutrons, electrons and a lot of elementary
particles (quarks…). Finally we cannot even imagine how far we can go in the microcosm and how
small the world can become!
The main principle on moving in powers of ten from the human dimension to the macrocosm is
that the previous object is a part of the next one: the Earth, the Solar System (whose size is about
1013 m), the Milky Way (the diameter is 1020 m or about 100.000 LY1), the Local Galaxies (its
diameter is millions of LY), the Large Group of galaxies (its diameter is milliards of LY), the Giant
Group whose size we cannot even imagine…
Instructions
- Cut off the pictures in the art collection
- Put the human being on the central pages
- Construct the micro cosmos on the pages on the left and the macrocosm to the right from the
human being respectively
- Write the name of the object on the headline of each page
- Calculate the sizes of the objects in metres using the powers of ten in Table 1 and write the
correct size to the upper corner of each page.
- If you like you can colour the pictures and write some information about the object on each
page.
1
One Light Year (LY) is about 9,5 billion kilometers (9,5 x 1012 Km or about 1016 meters)

3. -
Comenius School Partnership “M.E.T.E.R”
Meeting in ROME 16 -20 March 2010
SMS “G.G.Belli”, Rome
WORKSHOP n.2
HOW TO CONSTRUCT A MODEL OF MICRO AND MACROCOSM:
THE UNIVERSE IN POWERS OF TEN
Guide lines
Powers of ten Name Objects
We still don’t know what we’ll find going down
into more microscopic world
10 -15 m Quarks -The limit of the known microscopic world
10 -14 10 -13 m Protons and neutrons
10 -12 m Pico metre The atomic nucleus
10 -11 m Inside the atom
10 -10 m Angstrom - Å The atom dimension
10 -9 m Nanometre The molecule dimension
10 -8 10 -7 m The DNA dimension
10 -6m = /1000mm Micrometre – micron µ The cell dimension
10 -5 m The biological tissue dimension
10 -4 m The microscopic world
10 -3 m Millimetre The limit of human vision
10 -2 m Centimetre The dimension of a nail
10 -1 m Decimetre The dimension of a hand
10 0 m = 1 m Metre The human dimension
10 1 m Decametre The dimension of big animals
10 2 m Hectometre The limit of the dimension of living beings
10 3 m = 1 km Kilometre The height of the mountains
10 4 m The height of a flying plane
10 6 m = 1000 km The height of a satellite
10 7 m The Earth’s dimension (12.000 Km)
10 8 m ~Light sec The Earth -Moon distance (380.000 km1 Light sec)
10 9 m The Earth looks like a point
10 10 m ~U.A The Earth’s orbit
10 13 m The diameter of the Solar System
10 15 m Light Year (LY) The Solar System looks like a point
10 18 m 100 LY The distance of stars (Arturo)
10 21 m The dimension of Galaxies
10 22 m Local Group (group of galaxies)
10 24 m Groups of local groups
10 25 m Quasars - Galaxies look like dust
Space looks empty