For teachers
Size Detective suggestions
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How a round is scored
- Each plastic fragment appears once. One point for the closest everyday object.
- Closest means the smallest size ratio. Same size is a ratio of 1.
- The other two choices are at least 8 times bigger or smaller when the set allows it, so the nearest answer stays clear.
- Salt, dust mite, sesame seed, and ant are distractors with this teaching set. They are on the ladder, not the correct match.
- Pollen uses 20 µm, the low end of 20–60 µm, so a 50 µm fiber still matches a hair (100 µm) more closely.
| Object | Teaching size | Nanometers | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polymer cluster | 1 nm | 1 nm | Plastic |
| Nanosphere | 10 nm | 10 nm | Plastic |
| Nanosheet | 50 nm | 50 nm | Plastic |
| Nanofragment | 100 nm | 100 nm | Plastic |
| Nanofiber | 500 nm | 500 nm | Plastic |
| Fine microfragment | 1 µm | 1,000 nm | Plastic |
| Microbead | 10 µm | 10,000 nm | Plastic |
| Microfiber | 50 µm | 50,000 nm | Plastic |
| Coarse microfragment | 100 µm | 100,000 nm | Plastic |
| Foam fragment | 500 µm | 500,000 nm | Plastic |
| Larger fragment | 1 mm | 1,000,000 nm | Plastic |
| Water molecule | 0.3 nm | 0.3 nm | Everyday |
| Virus | 100 nm | 100 nm | Everyday |
| Bacterium | 2 µmrange 1–5 µm | 2,000 nm | Everyday |
| Red blood cell | 8 µmrange 7–8 µm | 8,000 nm | Everyday |
| Pollen grain | 20 µmrange 20–60 µm | 20,000 nm | Everyday |
| Human hair | 100 µmrange 50–100 µm | 100,000 nm | Everyday |
| Grain of table salt | 200 µmrange 100–500 µm | 200,000 nm | Everyday |
| Dust mite | 250 µmrange 200–300 µm | 250,000 nm | Everyday |
| Grain of sand | 500 µmrange 500 µm–2 mm | 500,000 nm | Everyday |
| Sesame seed | 3 mm | 3,000,000 nm | Everyday |
| Ant | 5 mm | 5,000,000 nm | Everyday |