All things · The Machinery of Life
Flu virus: how big is it?
Flu virus is about 120 nm. In everyday terms, that is ≈ 1,130 hydrogen atoms.
- Size
- 120 nm
- In metres
- 1.20 × 10⁻⁷ m
- Everyday comparison
- ≈ 1,130 hydrogen atoms
- Chapter
- The Machinery of Life
Did you know?
Too small for ordinary microscopes. It works by hijacking your cells and forcing them to make copies of itself.
How it compares
- About 1.3× bigger than Coronavirus (90 nm).
- About 4.4× smaller than Wavelength of green light (530 nm).
Other things of a similar size
- Antibody 12 nm
- Ribosome 25 nm
- Coronavirus 90 nm
- Wavelength of green light 530 nm
- Mimivirus 750 nm
- E. coli bacterium 2 µm
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.