Relative Sizes of Structures in the Brain

Linear measure- ments and dimensions generally are given in microns or micrometers (µm) (1 µm equals one- millionth of a meter) or nanometers (nm) (1 nm or millimicron equals one-billionth of a meter). About 240,000 µm equal one inch.

As a reference, the following are the dimen- sions of some non-neural structures: human ovum, 100 µm; cross-section of a skeletal muscle fiber, 10-100 µm; erythrocytes, 8–10 µm; bacteria, 0.1–8 µm; and viruses, 0.15–0.5 µm.

Cell bodies of neurons range from 4–140 µm in diameter, nerve fibers (axis cylinders and sheaths) 1 or 2–20 µm diameter, chemical syn- apses 20–30 nm, synaptic vesicles 20–120 nm and ribosomes are about 15 nm.

Notes:

Interesting to see how they compare to the sizes of other small objects.

Folksonomies: size neurology microscopy

Taxonomies:
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/law, govt and politics/legal issues/civil rights (0.354209)

Keywords:
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Concepts:
Orders of magnitude (0.973574): dbpedia | freebase
Units of length (0.694381): dbpedia
Neuron (0.672008): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Nervous system (0.636047): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Skeletal muscle (0.550620): dbpedia | opencyc
Acetylcholine (0.545388): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Muscle (0.532764): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Light (0.532224): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc

 The Human Nervous System
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Noback, Strominger, Demarest, Ruggiero (2005), The Human Nervous System, Humana PressInc, Retrieved on 2013-06-20
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: neuroscience medical