Width of the barrel of a pencil

The length of an average flea

The diameter of a pinhead

The thickness of a credit card

Length of a single pixel on a 17-inch monitor with 1024 x 786 resolution

Thickness of a coat of paint

Thickness of a sheet of paper

Average width of a human hair

Average width of a wool fiber

Width of a silk fiber

Width of a polyester fiber

Width of a nylon fiber

Width of a cotton fiber

Average width of spider web silk

Depth of pits on a CD (Compact Disc)

Pencil

• Diameter of Pencil

• 0.8 cm

• 8,000 µm

An Average Flea

• Length of flea

• 0.15 cm

• 1,500 µm

Pinhead

• Diameter

• .1 cm

• 1,000 µm

Credit Card

• Thickness

• 0.076 cm

• 760 µm

Single Pixel

• Length of single pixel on a 17-inch monitor with 1024x768 resolution

• .034 cm• 340 µm

Coat of Paint

• Thickness of a coat of paint

• 0.01 cm

• 100 µm

Paper

• Average thickness

• 0.009 cm

• 90 µm

Human Hair

• Average width of human hair

• 0.008 cm

• 80 µm

Wool Fiber

• Average Width

• 0.00325 cm

• 32.5 µm

Silk Fiber

• Width

• 0.0015 cm

• 15 µm

Polyester Fiber

• Width

• 0.0014 cm

• 14 µm

Nylon Fiber

• Width

• 0.0013 cm

• 13 µm

Cotton Fiber

• Width

• 0.001 cm

• 10 µm

Spider Web Silk

• Average Width of a strand

• 0.00055 cm

• 5.5 µm

Pits on Compact Disc

• Depth

0.000012 cm

120 nm

Thiomargarita namibiensis 1 millimeter in diameter or 1000 µm

• Discovered in 1999 off the coast of Namibia

• The largest bacterium in the world, at a remarkable volume of 3 million times that of a normal bacterial specimen.

• The long string of cells looked like pearl hence named "Sulfur pearl of Namibia”

• Found buried in the sulfur-abundant sea floor sediments

• Size due to large vacuole inside the cell that fills with nitrate that gives it the ability to survive periods when oxygen is lacking

Image courtesy of MicrobeWikiand Oceanus Online Magazine

Beggiatoa 20 m or 0.002 cm

• Living on marine sediments, at hydrothermal vents and marine cold seeps

• Beggiatoa bacteria live on sulfidic marine sediments

• Make string-like filaments which are visible to the naked eye, in white, orange and pink.

• Form thick 'mats' on the sediment surface

Image courtesy of MicrobeWiki andMicrobial Diversity 1997 (Rolf Schauder).

Desuflvibrio 7 m or 0.0007 cm

• Lives in sediments at the seafloor

• Ananaerobe—lives without the presence of O2

• Sulfate consuming bacterium

• Can also consume nitrate and metals like iron and chromium

• Generate hydrogen sulfide as a waste product.

• Potential 'bioremediator' of toxic sites

Image courtesy of MicrobeWiki and theLawrence Berkley National Laboratory.

Desulforudis audaxviator 4 µm or 0.0004 mm

• Only bacterium found in water samples obtained 2.8 km underground in the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa (terrestrial deep biosphere)

• Survived for millions of years on chemical food sources that derive from the radioactive decay of minerals in the surrounding rock

• Only species known to be alone in its ecosystem.

Public domain, NASAWikipedia, Desulforudis

Photobacterium profundum 2-4 µm long 0.8-1.0 µm wide

0.0002 – 0.0004 cm long 0.00008 – 0.00001 cm wide

• Originated from dark deep sea sediments off of the coast of Japan

• Able to grow at really high pressures (up to 70 MPa!)

• Consumes nitrate plus a variety of sugars and other carbon compounds to get energy

Image courtesy of MicrobeWiki andsciencemag.org

Alcanivorax borkumensis 2-3 µm in length and 0.4-07 µm in diameter

0.0002-0.0003 cm in length 0.00004-0.00007 cm in diameter

• Found in oil polluted open ocean and coastal waters

• Ability to degrade and live predominately on n-alkanes (hydrocarbons ranging from 5 to 32 chain carbons)

• Able to use dissolved organic and inorganic nitrogen

• Dominant microbes in oil-contaminated areas

• Bioremediation potential Image courtesy of American Society ofMicrobiology and Heinrich Luensdorf, HZI Braunschweig)

Mariprofundus ferrooxydans 2 µm or 0.0002 cm

• Found on the hydrothermal vents on Loihi Seamount (new Hawai’ian Island)

• Microbe is shaped like a kidney bean

• As it grows, consuming iron (Fe2+) and oxygen, it produces twisted ribbons of rust (Fe3+)

photo courtesy Clara Chan

Shewanella loihica 1.8 µm or 0.00018 cm

• Found at hydrothermal vents at the Loihi Seamount, an underwater volcano off of the coast of the big island of Hawaii

• Can consume iron, manganese, nitrate and oxygen to get energy

• Temperatures down around freezing

• Uses nanowires to get energy

DOE Joint Genome Institutehttp://genome.jgi-psf.org/she_p/she_p.home.html

Arcobacter sulfidicus 1 µm or 0.0001 cm

• Lives around hydrothermal vents at the seafloor

• A very mobile rod like bacteria with 4 tails

• Consumes sulfide and oxygen and produces sulfur in filimentous form

• Prefers high sulfide, low oxygen interfaces with dynamic fluid movement

• Likes warm temperaturesImage courtesy of Dr. Craig Smith, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

• Several strains of this cell were found at the head of and oil-producing well on an offshore platform in southern Vietnam.

• Live throughout water column and in deep ocean

• Have polar flagellum• Can consume alkanes—

hydrocarbons and some crude oil components

• Extremophiles that can live in very salty water but at mild temperature

Marinobacter aquaeolei 1 µm or 0.0001 cm

Image courtesy of Microbewiki and JGI.

Methanocaldococcus jannaschii .5 µm or 0.00005 cm

• Found in Mexico at a white smoker-- hydrothermal vents

• Archea not bacteria• Has an irregular spherical

shape• Makes methane gas from taking

in carbon dioxide and hydrogen • ‘Extreme' environment - water

that is slightly acidic, near boiling temperatures and high pressure Image courtesy of MicrobeWiki

and UC Berkley Electron Microscope Lab.

Methanopyrus kandleri 0.5 µm or 0.00005 cm

• Found in hydrothermal vents• Archaea not bacteria• Capable of living in near boiling

water (up to 110°C)• Makes methane from hydrogen

and carbon dioxide• Considered the most divergent

methanogens (makes Methane) based on its genetics (16s rRNA sequence)

• Uniqueness believed to be determined by isolation because of its environmental niche

Photo courtesy of MicrobeWiki,copyright K.O. Stetter and R. Rachel, Univ. Regensburg, Germany

Archaeoglobus fulgidus .2µm or 0.00002 cm

• Found at hydrothermal vents and deep ocean oil wells

• Archaea not bacteria• Can produce protection

(biofilm) when the environment stresses it with extreme pH or temperature, high concentrations of metal or the addition of antibiotics or oxygen

• Consumes sulfate, making hydrogen sulfide as a waste product

• Ideal growth temperature 83°C

Image courtesy MicrobeWiki andNature Magazine.