Sizewise Scale Comparison
Line up buildings, animals, planets or atoms side by side, drawn to true scale.
How it works
Compares the sizes of up to 24 things — from atoms and viruses to skyscrapers, stars and galaxies — and draws them to the same scale or as pairs with the ratio between neighbours. 337 objects come from Wikidata with their sources; add your own as “Name = 1.8 m”.
- Each object’s size is one Wikidata statement: height (P2048), length (P2043), width (P2049), diameter (P2386, or twice the radius P2120), wingspan (P2050), summit elevation (P2044) or atomic radius (P14936, doubled). The curation script took the preferred statement, else the largest statement without qualifiers, unless a specific one was chosen (for example a building’s height to the tip of its spire as listed).
- True scale: every object gets the same metres per pixel, so the largest one fills the drawing height; anything below one pixel is marked as too small to see.
- Pairs: each neighbour pair is drawn at its own scale with the ratio between them, which keeps sizes 10^30 apart readable.
- Silhouettes are generic shapes drawn for Sizewise; only the measured dimension is to scale (the other side uses the object’s own second dimension when Wikidata has one).
Sizes of animals and dinosaurs vary between individuals and estimates; Wikidata values can be maximum or typical sizes. Each row names the exact statement, so you can check it.
Sources
- Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation)
Part of Sizewise
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Sizewise Scale & big-number visualiser
Make sizes, amounts and big numbers feel real: to-scale lineups, fit counts and stacks.
How to use the Sizewise Scale Comparison
Put buildings, animals, planets or yourself side by side at one true scale, with every size traced to its Wikidata statement and the factor between neighbours.
What it is for
Numbers like "828 metres" or "12,742 km" are hard to picture. The Scale Comparison draws up to 24 objects next to each other on one ground line and tells you how many times larger each one is. It is handy for lessons, articles, quiz questions and settling arguments about whether a blue whale is longer than a basketball court.
You can mix objects from the built-in library — 337 atoms, cells, animals, buildings, mountains, planets, stars and galaxies — with your own entries such as Me = 1.8 m or Garden shed = 2.4 m. Every library object has exactly one size from Wikidata, and the result names the item, the property and the value as stated there, so you can check it.
It does not estimate sizes, average several sources or know objects that are not in the list: anything else you enter yourself.
Worked example
Enter Me = 1.75 m, Giraffe, Blue whale and Statue of Liberty, one per line, with Order set to smallest first. The summary reads: Statue of Liberty is 26.3× the size of Me, spanning 1.42 orders of magnitude across 4 objects.
The table shows:
| Object | Measure | Size | × smallest | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | height | 1.75 m | 1 | your entry |
| Northern giraffe | height | 5.5 m | 3.14 | Wikidata Q15083 P2048 |
| Blue whale | length | 27.1 m | 15.5 | Wikidata Q42196 P2043 |
| Statue of Liberty | height | 46 m | 26.3 | Wikidata Q9202 P2048 |
Note that Giraffe found the northern giraffe, the species Wikidata gives a height for. The comparison list adds each step: the giraffe is 3.14× your height, the whale 4.93× the giraffe, the statue 1.7× the whale.
The second built-in example goes from a hydrogen atom (106 pm, twice its 53 pm atomic radius) to the Milky Way (100,000 light years): the galaxy is 8.93 × 10^30 times larger, a span of 31 orders of magnitude.
How to read the result
- Measure says which dimension was compared: height, length, width, diameter, wingspan or summit elevation. A whale's length against a tower's height is still a fair "how big", but keep the difference in mind.
- × smallest is the factor relative to the smallest object; the comparison list gives the factor between neighbours.
- Drawn tells you whether the object is visible at one true scale. Too small to see means it would be under one pixel next to the largest object.
- The SVG drawing uses simple silhouettes. Only the measured dimension is to scale; the other side comes from a second Wikidata dimension when there is one, otherwise from typical proportions.
Tips and common mistakes
- Use Drawing: pairs when sizes differ by more than about a thousand times. Each pair then gets its own scale, so an atom and a cell are both visible.
- Units for your own entries can be metric or imperial, including
5 ft 9 in,auandly. - Mountains use their elevation above sea level. For a mountain's height from base to summit there is a separate entry for Mauna Kea.
- Animal sizes vary; Wikidata usually records a typical or maximum value. Open the item to see the reference.
- The same comparison runs in the Sizewise app with zooming, a numbered legend and PNG export.
FAQ
Why does my object say "not in the Sizewise list"?
Only objects with a usable Wikidata size are included. Add it yourself with Name = size unit.
Why are some objects drawn as small circles?
At one true scale they are smaller than a pixel. The circle marks their position; switch to the pairs drawing to see them.
How many objects can I compare?
Up to 24 in one comparison.
Can I use the drawing elsewhere?
Yes. The SVG is plain vector art made for Sizewise, and Wikidata's data is CC0.
Guide last updated:
For scripts and AI agents
- JSON API:
POST https://sizewisescalecompare.usefulweb.app/api/v1/calculate(same calculation as this page) - Interface description: OpenAPI 3.1 · AI guide: llms.txt
- MCP server (Streamable HTTP):
https://sizewisescalecompare.usefulweb.app/mcp· tool namesizewise_scale_compare
Example request
curl -s -X POST https://sizewisescalecompare.usefulweb.app/api/v1/calculate \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{"objects":"Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Burj Khalifa, Me = 1.8 m","sort":"size","layout":"true-scale"}'