# 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'- solar system scale **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740 "2009-03-17T12:56:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740/1 "2009-03-17T12:56:53Z")
In Bill Bryson’s _A Short History of Nearly Everything_, the author states the following (midway through chapter 2): > [@](#): > > On a diagram of the solar system to scale, with Earth reduced to about the diameter of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet away and Pluto would be a mile and a half distant (and about the size of a bacterium, so you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway) Now, Pluto has a diameter a little less than a fifth of Earth’s, so Bryson is saying in effect that a bacterium is a fifth of the size of a pea. That seems too large, but I don’t know enough biology to speak confidently on the upper bounds of bacterium size. Is this comparison wrong; if so, by what order of magnitude; if so, for extra credit, suggest an alternative for ‘bacterium’ in the quote above (‘size of a bogey/ booger’ seems about right, if lacking in scholarly elegance) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740/2 "2009-03-17T12:59:25Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > In Bill Bryson’s _A Short History of Nearly Everything_, the author states the following (midway through chapter 2): > Now, Pluto has a diameter a little less than a fifth of Earth’s, so Bryson is saying in effect that a bacterium is a fifth of the size of a pea. That seems too large, but I don’t know enough biology to speak confidently on the upper bounds of bacterium size. Is this comparison wrong; if so, by what order of magnitude; if so, for extra credit, suggest an alternative for ‘bacterium’ in the quote above (‘size of a bogey/ booger’ seems about right, if lacking in scholarly elegance) A fifth the diameter doesn’t mean a fifth the SIZE, as I am sure you know. It’s less than a hundredth the size of Earth, by volume. It did seem like a weird comparison to me, too, though; you could certainly see Pluto on such a scale. Pluto would look about the size of a small crumb, which obviously you can see. Bacteria come in many sizes, so he chose a poor comparison. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740/3 "2009-03-17T13:37:59Z")
_A Short History of Nearly Everything_ is an entertaining book, a good jumping-off point to help you figure out which science topics you’re interested in but know nothing about, and hopefully an inspiration to further reading. But please remember that some of the science in it ranges from A Bit Off to Complete Rubbish. Verify from an independent source. Bryson is wrong here, if entertainingly wrong. [The Thousand Yard Model](http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html) of the Solar System recommends using a peppercorn - which is of course smaller than a pea - to represent the Earth, and says Pluto can be represented by a pinhead or a smaller object. A pinhead is really a bit too large for Pluto, but even at that scale Pluto would be visible, just very tiny. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740/4 "2009-03-17T16:22:54Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > _A Short History of Nearly Everything_ is an entertaining book, a good jumping-off point to help you figure out which science topics you’re interested in but know nothing about, and hopefully an inspiration to further reading. But please remember that some of the science in it ranges from A Bit Off to Complete Rubbish. Verify from an independent source. Bryson is wrong here, if entertainingly wrong. Oh yeah - it’s the Wikipedia of this type of book. A starting point, but not much more. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740/5 "2009-03-17T16:30:18Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > But please remember that some of the science in it ranges from A Bit Off to Complete Rubbish. Verify from an independent source. Bryson is wrong here, if entertainingly wrong. This applies to more or less everything written by Bryson. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-solar-system-scale/489740/6 "2009-03-17T17:51:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > A fifth the diameter doesn’t mean a fifth the SIZE, as I am sure you know. It’s less than a hundredth the size of Earth, by volume. If you’re comparing the volume of Earth and Pluto, you should also be comparing the volume of the bacterium and the pea.