# Things That Are Much Bigger Than You Always Thought **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241 "2018-08-25T04:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/81 "2018-08-28T09:24:39Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > The windmill/wind thingies… Just wait until you are stuck in traffic behind one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/82 "2018-08-28T13:13:49Z")
This will initially sound weird, but the Grand Canyon. Yes, we all see the pictures and the films and such showing how big it is, but until you’re standing on the rim looking out it really doesn’t impress you just how HUGE it really is. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/83 "2018-08-28T13:56:05Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > “Size” is not limited to linear dimensions. From Wiki: > > If you’re going to nitpick, prepared to be nitpicked back.😉 Okay okay. I meant TALL. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/84 "2018-08-28T15:32:14Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > On a recent crosscountry trip I passed a number of trucks carrying windmill blades. _Individual windmill blades._[A little research](https://www.wind-watch.org/faq-size.php) says that they can be 150 feet long. [Each one needed its own truck](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.alberta.ca%2Fenergyheritage%2Fimages%2Fcontent%2Fenergy%2FWind_turbine_blade_in_transport_southern_Idaho%255B1%255D.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.alberta.ca%2Fenergyheritage%2Fenergy%2Fwind-power%2Fmodern-wind-power%2Fmodern-turbines-how-they-work.aspx&docid=jL_kB1aSNxIIOM&tbnid=ICc5oV5lGk1crM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwj7guqTzYjdAhVL0YMKHbHrDScQMwhoKBMwEw..i&w=940&h=653&client=firefox-b-1&bih=848&biw=1280&q=windmill%20blade%20transport&ved=0ahUKEwj7guqTzYjdAhVL0YMKHbHrDScQMwhoKBMwEw&iact=mrc&uact=8)and [escort vehicles before and after it.](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkfyo.com%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F11%2FWetzelBlade-630x389.jpg%3Fw%3D980%26q%3D75&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkfyo.com%2Frevolutionary-wind-turbine-blade-from-texas-startup-company%2F&docid=Fb4qbk8M8PGBLM&tbnid=0kfKQeOa4j4YoM%3A&vet=12ahUKEwjt2IukzYjdAhWFw4MKHfXADXY4ZBAzKCcwJ3oECAEQKA..i&w=980&h=605&client=firefox-b-1&bih=848&biw=1280&q=windmill%20blade%20transport&ved=2ahUKEwjt2IukzYjdAhWFw4MKHfXADXY4ZBAzKCcwJ3oECAEQKA&iact=mrc&uact=8) (Stock photos just to give you an idea of the scale) Yepper, they are indeed huge. There’s a lot of windmills hereabouts, and a lot of windmill construction, so I’m seeing the trucks more and more frequently. There is actually a huge stack of “windmill parts”, blades and the base sections, in a railway yard near a road I drive on to go to work. You think one blade is big, try a stack of 40 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/85 "2018-08-28T15:43:25Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I was pretty surprised the first time I encountered a [St. Bernard](https://goo.gl/images/ff2buc). I was working at a fast-food drive through window and his head seemed to fill it top to bottom and side to side! We have a Saint, but she’s on the small side, only about 125 pounds. That still makes her heavier than our 11-year-old daughter. And she does have a head like a big ol’ bear. But she’s so so sweet and gentle. Owning a Saint skews your perspective in the other direction: my father-in-law’s 75-pound golden retriever seems tiny to us when we visit. > [@Flyer](#): > > And the tips of the blades move WAY faster than you would think just by looking at one in action. They seem so slow. > > [The World's Biggest Wind Turbine Blades Are So Long Their Tips Spin at 180 MPH](https://gizmodo.com/5930272/the-worlds-biggest-wind-turbine-blades-are-so-long-their-tips-spin-at-180-mph) Once, when we were driving past one that was spinning at a good clip, I did some mental math, based on how long I figured the blades were (having seen them on the ground). That gives you the radius of the circle, which you double and multiply times pi to get the circumference. So traveling that distance in say three seconds, more multiplying…anyway, I figured that, roughly, the tips of the blades were moving about 94 miles per hour. Not as fast as the one in the link, but still impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/86 "2018-08-28T18:35:31Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > This will initially sound weird, but the Grand Canyon. Yes, we all see the pictures and the films and such showing how big it is, but until you’re standing on the rim looking out it really doesn’t impress you just how HUGE it really is. If you really want to know how big the Grand Canyon is, try hiking from one side to the other. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/87 "2018-08-28T18:48:53Z")
The Grand Canyon for me is too big to see. I feel like my brain just sort of says “Yep, that’s pretty big” but without really allowing me to understand the scale of it. I may, however, just be very weird. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/88 "2018-08-28T19:20:57Z")
> [@Hopeful\_Crow](#): > > This. We visited the Railroad Museum in Revelstoke, B.C. and I was amazed how huge an actual steam locomotive is. They don’t look that big in the movies. Not all locomotives are as big as the [Canadian Pacific 5468](https://www.railwaymuseum.com/collections) which you saw in that museum. Especially in movies, because there aren’t many functional steam locomotives available to use as movie props, and most of them are on the small side. Also, American/Canadian locomotives were bigger than European locomotives - the rail width (gauge) is the same, but the [loading gauge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loading_gauge) (max size of the train) is bigger, so the locomotives could be wider and taller. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/89 "2018-08-28T19:47:57Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > We have a Saint, but she’s on the small side, only about 125 pounds. That still makes her heavier than our 11-year-old daughter. And she does have a head like a big ol’ bear. But she’s so so sweet and gentle. Owning a Saint skews your perspective in the other direction: my father-in-law’s 75-pound golden retriever seems tiny to us when we visit. A different breed, but along those same lines: when our lab mix was doing obedience training, the trainer had a pet [Irish Wolfhound](http://dogs-breeds.info/irish-wolfhound/). I thought I had seen some big dogs in my time, but the size of that guy was astonishing. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/90 "2018-08-28T19:50:15Z")
I had no idea until recently how big a draft mule can get (yes, I’m sure the lady with him isn’t so big, but still). I guess it makes sense if you’re going to be bred to pull stuff. [![](https://luckythreeranch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Draft-Mule.jpg) ](https://luckythreeranch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Draft-Mule.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/91 "2018-08-28T19:59:09Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > This will initially sound weird, but the Grand Canyon. Yes, we all see the pictures and the films and such showing how big it is, but until you’re standing on the rim looking out it really doesn’t impress you just how HUGE it really is. This. No picture can prepare you for standing on the rim. And like RA mentions, hiking rim to rim really brings it home. North to south in one day. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/92 "2018-08-28T20:16:05Z")
> [@D18](#): > > Not in a position to watch the video right now, but when I saw the title of the thread, what came to mind is the Saturn V rocket. When I walked into the building housing it at the Kennedy Space Center, I was blown away by how large it was. It’s one thing to know something is big; it’s another to actually see how big something is! And all that so it could accelerate a tiny portion at the top to the moon. My SO and I reacted the same way. “Hmm, let’s make the biggest bomb we can manage, strap a couple of people on top, and light the fuse!” The command module for Apollo 11 is 10’7" by 12’10", and weighs 9130 lb. The Saturn V stood 363’ tall and weighed 6,540,000 lb. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/93 "2018-08-28T20:30:11Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > The Grand Canyon for me is too big to see. I feel like my brain just sort of says “Yep, that’s pretty big” but without really allowing me to understand the scale of it. I may, however, just be very weird. That was kind of my impression as well. I couldn’t really get an appreciation of it just by looking from the rim; had to go down and back up, get all my senses involved, and feel what it did to me. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > This. No picture can prepare you for standing on the rim. And like RA mentions, hiking rim to rim really brings it home. North to south in one day. One day is impressive, I don’t think I could have managed that. I did south to north (which gains 1000’ in elevation) in two days. Finished around midnight and could barely walk for the next ten days. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/94 "2018-08-28T20:42:54Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > A different breed, but along those same lines: when our lab mix was doing obedience training, the trainer had a pet [Irish Wolfhound](http://dogs-breeds.info/irish-wolfhound/). I thought I had seen some big dogs in my time, but the size of that guy was astonishing. When Daisy was still a puppy, I took her to obedience classes. We were in the same class as a Leonberger and a bloodhound. The trainer called us her “giant dog” class. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/95 "2018-08-28T21:09:10Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I had no idea until recently how big a draft mule can get (yes, I’m sure the lady with him isn’t so big, but still). I guess it makes sense if you’re going to be bred to pull stuff. > > [https://luckythreeranch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Draft-Mule.jpg](https://luckythreeranch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Draft-Mule.jpg) Similarly, Clydesdales. Horses are big. Clydesdales are _huge_. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/96 "2018-08-28T22:25:40Z")
The cross country jumps at the Kentucky Horse Park. If you are behind the line as an observer, they are big jumps. But I had the chance once to walk the course, and those things are intimidating! I am 5’6" and could walk UNDER some of them, plus they are not the lightweight show jumps that will come apart if you hit one. They are made of LOGS. Imagine for a moment galloping full speed- 30-40 MPH- on a horse and clearing those things. No. Thank. You. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/97 "2018-08-29T10:00:17Z")
Due to an unlikely series of events, mizPullin actually got to hold [Challenger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VrUieWOEXU) on her arm. (Trained bald eagle. Link is video of the bird at a game. 1:00 mark for closeup of the bird’s size) She said it’s shocking both how large the bird is, and how little it weighs. My entry to the thread would be most airplanes. Due to my job(s), I frequently get to walk up to them on a ramp, and even small fighters seem huge when you’re up next to them. Ditto for average sized airliners, like a 737. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/98 "2018-08-29T10:16:26Z")
Segovia’s acqueduct. The pictures always show the same part because the rest is either hidden from a long-distance view by buildings, up the hills or both. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/99 "2018-08-29T14:52:56Z")
Re: The Grand Canyon We flew over it going to Vegas one time and you can really appreciate its size from that far above it, being able to see just how long the damn thing is. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241/100 "2018-08-29T16:06:43Z")
Ditto for the Grand Canyon. But a little northeast, up the Colorado River, is the Glen Canyon dam. Standing at the base of the dam, looking up at it, it’s HUGE!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-much-bigger-than-you-always-thought/820241.md?page=6)