All things · The Edge of Sight

Dust mite: how big is it?

Dust mite is about 250 µm. In everyday terms, that is ≈ 3.6 human hairs (width).

Size

250 µm

In metres

2.50 × 10⁻⁴ m

Everyday comparison

≈ 3.6 human hairs (width)

Chapter

The Edge of Sight

Did you know?

Tiny relatives of spiders that live in beds and pillows, feeding on flakes of skin.

How it compares

• Roughly the same size as Paramecium (220 µm).
• About 1.8× smaller than Tardigrade (450 µm).

Other things of a similar size

• Human hair (width) 70 µm
• Human egg cell 120 µm
• Paramecium 220 µm
• Tardigrade 450 µm
• Grain of sand 600 µm
• Mustard seed 1.5 mm

Sizes are rounded, typical values drawn from standard reference sources, including NIST/CODATA physical constants and NASA's planetary fact sheets. Real objects vary; see About for how sizes are chosen.