Occasionally one will come across a chart, graph or nomograph which provides a unique perspective on some particular unit-of-measure. An example is "Feynman's Distance Perspective Chart" shown on the homepage of this site. Typically the particular illustration will be focused more on one individual scientific or technological field of endeavor. Hence, on this page, these illustrations are organized in a two-tier approach. First the unit-of-measure heading or tier which is then followed by the "field of endeavor" heading or tier. For a list of the units-of-measure and "fields of endeavor" covered go to the "Perspective Block Introduction" page of this site.
The sources for these illustrations are varied. Typically the link will direct the user to the web-based source of the illustration. If the illustration is out of a book, a second link providing access to purchase of the original book the illustration is found in is also provided. If the source of the illustration is a journal or magazine article, again, a second link providing access to purchase a reprint of the article the illustration is found in is also provided.
If you are aware of any unique perspective providing charts, graphs or nomographs, that you think should be included here, please forward that information to admin@units-of-measure.com. Please title the email: "New Graphics."
Distance/Length
Distance/Length - Physics/Astronomy
*"The Filtration Spectrum." This classic particle size chart produced by Osmonics, originally in 1984, colorfully charts over 30 particle & object sizes ranging from 1 angstom to 100 microns in size.
Distance/Length - Electro-Optics
*"Laser Wavelength Chart." This Exciton, Inc. graphic shows the wavelength of laser light generated for the combination of a particular laser dye and excitation light source.
Pressure (Stress & Modulus of Elasticity)
Database of Charts, Graphs & Nomographs
Last Updated: October 8, 2006
Pressure (Stress & MOE) - Materials
* "Relative Position of Materials Comparing Young's Modulus with Density." This is a classic chart for any mechanical engineer selecting materials for a new design. Materials such as corks, foams, woods, ceramics, alloy metals and diamond are illustrated. The range of modulus' covered go from 0.01 GPa (1450 psi) to 1000 GPa (1.45x10^8 psi) with the range of densities covered being from 0.1 Mg/m^3 (6.25 lb/ft^3) to 30 Mg/m^3 (1875 lb/ft^3).
Distance/Length - Data Storage
*"Track, Areal, Linear Density Perspective." Ed Grochowski of Hitachi and previously of IBM for 40 years has charted the evolution of magnetic hard drive technology. This graphic plots the contraction in data bit size on the disks from 1991-2004. We see from this chart that the bits on some magnetic hard disks today (2004) are about 200 nanometers wide (track width) by 40 nanometers long (linear length along data track). Remember a hair on your heads is about 75,000 nm in diameter!
*"The Incredible Shrinking Slider." This simple graphic illustrates the evolution in size of magnetic disk drive read/write heads or sliders. The units displayed are in inches. Source: Unknown. Generations beyond these will include the Pemto (1.25 mm x 0.7 mm x 0.23 mm) and Femto (0.85 x 0.7 x 0.23) sliders.
*"How small is a micro-inch?" Graphical illustration of small objects (human hair, dust particle, smoke particle & finger print) scaled in micro-inches. From website of Magnecomp a magnetic hard drive suspension company. Neat graphic.
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Distance/Length - Biology/Medicine
*"2-20 years: Boys Stature-for-Age Percentiles." This graphic was produced by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2001. It gives a good perspective on the distribution of boys heights in the U.S.
*"2-20 years: Girls Stature-for-Age Percentiles." This graphic was produced by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2001. It gives a good perspective on the distribution of girls heights in the U.S.
units of measure
meters
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seconds
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kilograms
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fred thomas
units of measure
kelvin degrees
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candela
units of measure
gauss
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pascal
units of measure
watt
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newtons
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joule
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volt
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henery
ogden utah
units of measure physics unit of measure astronomy units of measure biology unit of measure medicine units of measure chemistry unit of measure chemical engineering units of measure fred thomas unit of measure architecture units of measure civil engineering units of measure materials unit of measure mechanical engineering units of measure humanities unit of measure information technology units of measure geology unit of measure geography units of measure electro-optics unit of measure photonics carol boyce thomas transportation units of measure fred c thomas III unit of measure automation units of measure tribology unit of measure animals units of measure zoology unit of measure data storage units of measure weather unit of measure meteorology units of measure nano science units of measure mems unit of measure micro mechanical systems units of measure optical unit of measure aviation units of measure space unit of measure integrated circuits units of measure electrical arts unit of measure defense units of measure lethal arts units of measure laser unit of measure design units of measure innovation unit of measure patents units of measure inventor unit of measure dynamics units of measure outside the box unit of measure resume units of measure invention units of measure lessons unit of measure home school units of measure assignments unit of measure learning units of measure education unit of measure teaching units of measure grade school unit of measure high school units of measure college units of measure database unit of measure nomographs units of measure graphs unit of measure charts units of measure unit of measure units of measure unit of measure units of measure units of measure unit of measure units of measure free technical software free graphical software fred charles thomas III chemistry mechanical engineering optical science ao-dvd ng-dvd subwavelength optical data storage
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subwave.info
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mass
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electrical current
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temperature
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luminance
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distance
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hardness scale
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bucknell University
TrueLuminous
durometer
foam rubber
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Shore 00 Shore oo Shore D
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nonmetalic materials
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Hardness
Hardness - Materials
* "Approximate Relationship between various Hardness Scales." This graphic illustrates the relative magnitude and range of applicability of the 5 major hardness scales. These being the Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers, Shore and Mohs hardness scales. Materials such as diamond, alumina, quartz, calcite, plastics, aluminum, brass, steel and file hard steel are juxtaposed on the graphic for the viewer to obtain some perspective.
*"Feynman's Distance Perspective Chart" This chart is from The Feynman Lectures on Physics. A simple but informative chart on what is small and what is big in our world and universe.
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Find over 26 classic science & engineering graphic illustrations below.
Charts, graphs and nomographs
that provide new insights.
Print one out and post it on your office wall. No better way to gain perspective.
* "Typical Properties of Some Research Materials." A handy one page chart covering about 35 different ferrous metals, nickel alloys, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, unalloyed metals, plastics, ceramics and woods. Properties listed include density, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, shear modulus, hardness and coefficient of thermal expansion. One to keep always handy.
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Temperature
Temperature - Physics/Astronomy
* "Visual Perspective on the Range of Temperatures Throughout the Universe." Colorfully illustrated graphic out of an interesting high school physics text. An illustrated logrithmic scale shows the temperature (degrees Kelvin) of interstellar space, liquid helium, flames, the surface of the sun, the center of the sun, a nuclear explosion, a super nova explosion and many other items spanning the limits of the universe's realm of hot and cold.
Publish your own "Perspective Blocks" on this website and be part of our "Contributor List."
*"Mountains & Rivers." I stored this beautiful graphic on my computer a year or so ago. It illustrates over 40 of the world's longest rivers and probalbly 30 or so of the world's highest mountains. I located a source for it recently at a poster art website. The link is to the right.
* "Earth by Night." This poster graphic is a satelite image taken of the world at night. It provides a purely visually perspective on energy and power consumption around the world. From the concentrations of light pollution we easily see where all the world's major cities and industrial centers are.
Different presentations of the Periodic Table of Elements for wall mounting.
Different perspectives on our universe for wall mounting.
* "Quarks and the Scale of Things." This colorful graphic takes at the scale of quarks relative to atoms, a nucleus, a proton and an electron. It's original can be found at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory web site on a page called the Particle Adventure.
* "Durometer Scales and Range." Two graphics illustrating the relative durometer of such items as chewing gum, a racquet ball, a rubber band, a pencil eraser, a tire tread, a shoe's heel, a shopping carts wheel and a hard hat. Durometer is the international standard for measuring the hardness of rubber, foam rubber, plastic, and most nonmetallic materials. Foam rubbers are usually measured on the Shore OO scale, and solid rubbers on the Shore A scale. In some cases, an object may fall within more than one scale. For example, a typical shoe heel is 95 Shore OO, 70 Shore A, and 22 Shore D durometer.
* "The Scale of Things -- Nanometers and More." This colorful graphic is something I saw on a friends office wall and thought -- that's a great graphic that really puts the nano-world into perspective. Both things "manmade" and things "natural" are illustrate with unique images running along the sides of an equally well annotated logrithmic scale of distance in the center. There is quite a bit of biological perspective provided. A product of the "U.S. Office of Basic Energy Sciences."
*"Nomographs for Ball Bearing Design." The New Hampshire Ball Bearings Company has a webpage with 5 different design nomographs that make quick work out of selecting the appropriate size bearing for your load, estimating it's life and matching lubricant properties to your systems dynamic requirements.
* "Relative Absorption of Light by Biological Tissues." Laser light's monochromaticity is responsible for its selective effect on biologic tissue. Whenever light hits tissue, it can be transmitted, scattered, reflected, or absorbed, depending on the type of tissue and the wavelength (color) of the light.
Get that book out of your head and on to the page. A great way to see results quickly.
* "Chart of Wire Current Carrying Capabilites." Graphic contains two charts. The first shows the fusing current (amps) that various AWG size wires will fuse at. Fusing current is the current at which the wire will melt. The second chart shows how many strands of a higher gage (AWG size) wire is required to be identical to any other lower AWG size wire.
*"Chart for Calculating Wire Bundle Diameters." For example: Overall bundle diameter = K x individual conductor OD. What is the diameter of eight 20-gage wires whose individual diameter is 0.055 inch? Overall diameter = 3.31 x 0.055 = 0.182 inch. Charts provide K values for combing single strands and twisted pairs into bundles.
Distance/Length - IC & Electrical Arts
*"Perspective on Integrated Circuit Design" This graphic illustrates minimum feature design size for intergrated circuits while at the same time showing the relative size of "killer" defects by particle contamination. The trend for different capacity solid state memory devices is shown.
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* "Comparative Properties of Plastics Table." Two page chart covering about 52 different plastics. List includes a wide breadth of different engineering plastics and their properties. These charts cover 30 different properties including 10 mechanical, 4 wear, 5 thermal, 5 electrical, 2 hydroscopic, and 4 optical properties. A partial list of specific properties includes: Tensile strength, flexural strength, compressive strength, shear strength, impact strength, elongation at break, tensile & flexural modulus of elasticity, hardness, coefficient of friction, wear factor, abrasive resistance, continuous service temperature, melting point, coefficient of linear thermal expansion, volume resistivity, optical transmittance, refractive index and haze. The specific ASTM test method used to obtain all these plastic material properties are listed as well. Great resource for the design engineer. Take a look and print out a copy for yourself.
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* "SI Prefixes for Multiplication Factors." This graphic is universally found in math, science and engineering textbooks the world over. It is helpful in keeping your tera, nano and femto exponential magnitudes straight.
* "Perspective on Social & Demographic Characteristics for Selected Countries." This one page chart and graphic compares the population, land area, population density, GDP, GDP per capita as well as other figures of merit for eight Asian, European and North American countries. The four graphics are in bar chart form and compare population, land area, population density and GDP per capita between countries. The original data was taken from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's year 2000 "World Fact Book."
Acceleration
Acceleration - Biology/Medicine
*"Perspectives on Acceleration Rates and G Forces for Different Human Events." This graphic has contour lines for both constant G Force (0.1 G to > 1000 G) and constant deceleration time (1 sec. to 0.001 sec.) on a graph with axes for velocity and deceleration distance. The G Force generated by such events as a parachute landing, catapult launch, a fall into a fireman's net, parachute opening shock, head impact tolerated with a helmet, severe auto accidents, falls that have been survived are noted on the diagram. It is interesting to note that the approximate survival limit of the human body is 175-200 G. Ouch!
from The Economist print edition. This relationship (see chart) suggests shavers are going to get more blades whether they need them or not. However, just like Moore's law—the observation that computer chips double in power every 18 months or so—it seems that technology as well as marketing determines the rate at which new blades are introduced.
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Time
Time & (1/time: Bandwidth) - Information Technology
*"Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Speed Chart" (2006) Ever wonder how your DSL speed stacks up? Here is a chart at the "DSL Forum" that shows the maximum upload and download speeds for the various DSL specifications in existence. The year the specification was ratified is covered as well. Included specifications covered are: ADSL (G.992.1), ADSL2 (G.992.3), ADSL2plus (G.992.5), ADSL2-RE (G.992.3), SHDSL (G.991.2), VDSL (G.993.1) and VDSL2 (G.993.2). Also here is a link to test your Internet speed/performance: "Internet Connection Speed Test." My DSL provider says I have 1.5 Mb/s download rates, I tested at a disappointing 200 Kb/s rate. That's US West for you!
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* "Richter Scale for Earthquakes & Richter Nomograph." The magnitude of most earthquakes is measured on the Richter scale, invented by Charles F. Richter in 1934. The Richter magnitude is calculated from the amplitude of the largest seismic wave recorded for the earthquake, no matter what type of wave was the strongest.
The Richter magnitudes are based on a logarithmic scale (base 10). What this means is that for each whole number you go up on the Richter scale, the amplitude of the ground motion recorded by a seismograph goes up ten times. Using this scale, a magnitude 5 earthquake would result in ten times the level of ground shaking as a magnitude 4 earthquake (and 32 times as much energy would be released). To give you an idea how these numbers can add up, think of it in terms of the energy released by explosives: a magnitude 1 seismic wave releases as much energy as blowing up 6 ounces of TNT. A magnitude 8 earthquake releases as much energy as detonating 6 million tons of TNT. Pretty impressive, huh? Fortunately, most of the earthquakes that occur each year are magnitude 2.5 or less, too small to be felt by most people.
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