Scale

Scale is...

1) ...the size of a system or property that one is describing.

2) ...the precision of observation or description

For (1) imagine thinking about systems that have various sizes. From the smallest to the largest, we have an elementary particle, an atom, a molecule, a cell, a person, a city, a planet, a galaxy, the universe.

For (2) imagine using a zoom lens to look at a person. The trick is to imagine that you see the whole person no matter from how close or far away you are looking. From far away you see only a dot. Closer up you see limbs and the color of the clothes. Closer still you see the face and facial expression, the fingers and the patterns on the clothes. Closer still you see the creases in the skin, individual hairs, and the threads in the clothes. Closer still you see the cells of the skin, the fibers of each thread of the clothes. Closer still you see each of the molecules, and closer still you see each of the atoms.

 

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