Get a Sense of Scale…Of the Universe

Ever wanted to get an exact sense of scale of everything? Like how big a giraffe is next to an elephant? Or maybe how big you are in relation to the Sun?

The Huang brothers, Cary and Michael, have put together a simple widget that does just that.

Simply open the link, and slide the scale back and forth: as you move the slider it goes up and down by powers of ten, showing everything from atoms to Alpha Centauri. It's neat because it finally puts the scale of a lot of things into perspective. Also, the Huangs have hidden all sorts of animation easter eggs in the widget: look closely for flapping wings, moving waves, and other little touches that bring the various creatures to life.

Still, we have a few suggestions for scale that could be useful to add, like the number of people on your Facebook page who you don't actually know, or the size of Kanye West's ego...although considering this widget only includes the entire known universe, that might be asking too much.