All things · The Machinery of Life

Wavelength of green light: how big is it?

Wavelength of green light is about 530 nm. In everyday terms, that is ≈ 5,000 hydrogen atoms.

Size

530 nm

In metres

5.30 × 10⁻⁷ m

Everyday comparison

≈ 5,000 hydrogen atoms

Chapter

The Machinery of Life

Did you know?

Things much smaller than this can't be seen clearly with a light microscope — the light waves are simply too big.

How it compares

• About 4.4× bigger than Flu virus (120 nm).
• About 1.4× smaller than Mimivirus (750 nm).

Other things of a similar size

• Coronavirus 90 nm
• Flu virus 120 nm
• Mimivirus 750 nm
• E. coli bacterium 2 µm
• Platelet 2.5 µm
• Red blood cell 7.5 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.