Orders of magnitude (area)

This page is a progressive and labelled list of the SI area orders of magnitude, with certain examples appended to some list objects.

Image comparing various units: square mile (the entire yellow square), square kilometre, hectare and acre, as well as a soccer field and a Manhattan block.

An area of one square kilometre consists of 100 hectares each containing 10,000 square metres.

10−70 to 10−9 square metres

List of orders of magnitude for area 10⁻⁷⁰ to 10⁻⁹ square metres

Factor (m2)	Multiple	Value	Item
10−70		2.6×10−70 m2	Planck area, ${\displaystyle {\frac {G\hbar }{c^{3}}}}$[1]
10−60	1 square quectometre
10−54	1 square rontometre
10−52		100 rm2	1 shed[2]
10−48	1 square yoctometre (ym2)	1 ym2
10−43		100,000 ym2	1 femtobarn[3]
10−42	1 square zeptometre (zm2)	1 zm2
10−36	1 square attometre (am2)	1 am2
10−30	1 square femtometre (fm2)	1 fm2
10−29		66.52 fm2	Thomson cross-section of the electron[4]
10−28		100 fm2	1 barn, roughly the cross-sectional area of a uranium nucleus[5]
10−24	1 square picometre (pm2)	1 pm2
10−20	1 square angstrom (Å2)	10,000 pm2
10−19		100,000 pm2	Area of a lipid bilayer, per molecule[6]
		75,000–260,000 pm2	Surface area of the 20 standard amino acids[7]
10−18	1 square nanometre (nm2)	1 nm2
10−16		100 nm2	Globular proteins: solvent-accessible surface area of a typical globular protein, having a typical molecular mass of ~35000 u (quite variable)[8]
10−14		17,000 nm2	Cross-sectional area of a nuclear pore complex in vertebrates[9]
10−12	1 square micrometre (μm2)	6 μm2	Surface area of an E. coli bacterium[10]
10−10		100 μm2	Surface area of a red blood cell[11]
10−9		6,000–110,000 μm2	Range of common LCD screen pixel sizes[12]
		7,000 μm2	Area of a dot printed using 300 dots per inch resolution[13]
		8,000 μm2	Cross-sectional area of a straight human hair that is 100 μm[14] in diameter[15]

10−8 to 10−1 square metres

List of orders of magnitude for areas 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻¹ square metres

Factor (m2)	Multiple	Value	Item
10−8		55,000 μm2	Size of a pixel on a typical modern computer display
10−7		2-400,000 μm2	Cross-sectional area of a mechanical pencil lead (0.5-0.7 mm in diameter)[16]
10−6	1 square millimetre (mm2)	1–2 mm2	Area of a human fovea[17]
		2 mm2	Area of the head of a pin
10−5		30–50 mm2	Area of a 6–8 mm hole punched in a piece of paper by a hole punch[18]
10−4	1 square centimetre (cm2)	290 mm2	Area of one side of a U.S. penny[19][20]
		500 mm2	Area of a typical postage stamp
10−3		1,100 mm2	Area of a human retina[21]
		4,600 mm2	Area of the face of a credit card[22]
		4,800 mm2	Largest side of a cigarette box
10−2	1 square decimetre (dm2)	10,000 mm2	Index card (3 × 5 inches)[23]
		60,000 mm2	American letter paper (11 × 8.5 inches, "A" size)
		62,370 mm2	International A4 paper (210 × 297 mm)
		92,903 mm2	1 square foot[24]
10−1		125,000 mm2	International A3 paper (297 × 420 mm)
		180,000 mm2	Surface area of a basketball (diameter 24 cm)[25][26]
		250,000 mm2	International A2 paper (420 × 594 mm)
		500,000 mm2	International A1 paper (594 × 841 mm)

100 to 107 square metres

List of orders of magnitude for areas 10⁰ to 10⁷ square metres.

Factor (m2)	Multiple	Value	Item
100	1 square metre	1 m2	International A0 paper (841 × 1189 mm)
		1.73 m2	A number commonly used as the average body surface area of a human[27]
		1–4 m2	Area of the top of an office desk
101		10–20 m2	A parking space
		70 m2	Approximate surface area of a human lung[28]
102	1 square decametre (dam2)	100 m2	One are (a)
		162 m2	Size of a volleyball court (18 × 9 metres)[29]
		202 m2	Floor area of a median suburban three-bedroom house in the US in 2010: 2,169 sq ft (201.5 m2)[30]
		261 m2	Size of a tennis court[31]
		437 m2	Size of an NBA/WNBA/NCAA basketball court[32]
		845 m2	Wing area of Airbus A380, the largest commercial airliner[33]
		978 m2	Size of the primary mirror of the Extremely Large Telescope, the largest optical telescope in the world (under construction)[34]
103	1 kilo square meter k(m2)	1,000 m2	Surface area of a modern stremma or dunam
		1,250 m2	Surface area of the water in an Olympic-size swimming pool[35]
		4,047 m2	1 acre[36]
		5,400 m2	Size of an American football field[37][38]
		7,140 m2	Size of a typical football (soccer) field[39][40]
104	1 square hectometre (hm2)	10,000 m2	1 hectare (ha)[41]
		17,000 m2	Approximate area of a cricket field (theoretical limits: 6,402 m2 to 21,273 m2)[42]
		22,100 m2	Area of a Manhattan city block
		53,000 m2	Base of the Great Pyramid of Giza[43][44]
105		195,000 m2	Irish National Botanic Gardens[45]
		490,000 m2	Vatican City[46]
		600,000 m2	Total floor area of the Pentagon[47]
		659,611 m2	Total floor area of Surat Diamond Bourse (largest office building)[48]
		887,800 m2	AvtoVAZ main assembly building, Tolyatti, Russia (largest building by footprint)
106	1 mega square meter M(m2) 1 square kilometre (km2)	1.76 km2	New Century Global Center, Chengdu, China (largest building by total floor area)
		2 km2	Monaco (country ranked 192nd by area)[49]
		2.59 km2	1 square mile[50]
		2.9 km2	City of London (not all of modern London)[51]
107		59.5 km2	Manhattan Island (land area)[52]
		61 km2	San Marino[53]

108 to 1014 square metres

Factor (m2)	Multiple	Value	Item
108		105 km2	Paris (inner city only)[54]
		110 km2	Walt Disney World[55]
		272 km2	Taipei City[56]
		630 km2	Toronto[57]
109	1 giga square meter G(m2)	1,100 km2	Hong Kong[58]
		1,290 km2	Los Angeles, California, United States (city)[59]
		1,962 km2	Jacksonville, Florida; largest city in the Continental US[60]
		2,188 km2	Tokyo[61]
		3,130 km2	Average area of an American county
		5,780 km2	Administrative area of Bali[62]
		8,030 km2	Community of Madrid, Spain
1010		11,000 km2	Jamaica[63]
		30,528 km2	Belgium
		68,870 km2	Lake Victoria[64]
		84,000 km2	Austria[65]
1011		100,000 km2	South Korea[66]
		167,996 km2	Jiuquan in China
		232,000 km2	Total area covered by underwater search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (including both 2014-2017 and 2018 searches)
		238,397 km2	Romania[67]
		301,338 km2	Italy[68]
		357,000 km2	Germany[69]
		377,900 km2	Japan[70]
		510,000 km2	Spain[71]
		780,000 km2	Turkey[72]
1012	1 tera square meter T(m2) 1 square megametre (Mm2)	1.0 Mm2	Egypt (country ranked 29th by area)[73]
		2 Mm2	Mexico
		3.10 Mm2	Sakha (Yakutia) Republic in Russia (largest subnational governing body)[74]
		3.28 Mm2	India (country ranked 7th by area)
		5 Mm2	Largest extent of the Roman Empire[75][76]
		7.74 Mm2	Australia (country ranked 6th by area)[77]
		8.5 Mm2	Brazil
		9.5 Mm2	China/ United States of America
1013		10 Mm2	Canada (including water)[78]
		14 Mm2	Antarctica[79]
		14 Mm2	Arable land worldwide[80]
		16.6 Mm2	Surface area of Pluto[81]
		17 Mm2	Russia (country ranked 1st by area)[82]
		24 Mm2	Largest extent of Mongol Empire
		30 Mm2	Africa[83]
		35.5 Mm2	Largest extent of the British Empire[84]
		38 Mm2	Surface area of the Moon[85]
		44.6 Mm2	Asia (largest continent by area)
		70.5 Mm2	Indian Ocean[86]
		85.1 Mm2	Atlantic Ocean[87]
1014		144 Mm2	Surface area of Mars[88]
		150 Mm2	Land area of Earth[89]
		168.7 Mm2	Pacific Ocean[90]
		360 Mm2	Water area of Earth[89]
		510 Mm2	Total surface area of Earth[89]

1015 to 1026 square metres

List of orders of magnitude for areas 10¹⁵ to 10²⁶ square metres.

Factor (m2)	Multiple	Value	Item
1015	1 peta square meter P(m2)	1,000 Mm2	Surface area of the white dwarf, Van Maanen's star
		7,600 Mm2	Surface area of Neptune[91]
1016		43,000 Mm2	Surface area of Saturn[92]
		61 000 Mm2	Surface area of Jupiter,[93] the "surface" area of the spheroid (calculated from the mean radius as reported by NASA). The cross-sectional area of Jupiter, which is the same as the "circle" of Jupiter seen by an approaching spacecraft, is almost exactly one quarter the surface-area of the overall sphere, which in the case of Jupiter is approximately 1.535×1016 m2.
1017		2-600 000 Mm2	Surface area of the brown dwarf CT Chamaeleontis B.
		460,000 Mm2	Area swept by the Moon's orbit of Earth
1018	1 square gigametre (Gm2)	6.1 Gm2	Surface area of the Sun[94]
1019		30 Gm2	Surface area of the star Vega
1020		100 Gm2
1021	1 zetta square meter Z(m2)	1 000 Gm2
1022		11 000 Gm2	Area swept by Mercury's orbit around the Sun
		37 000 Gm2	Area swept by Venus' orbit around the Sun
		71 000 Gm2	Area swept by Earth's orbit around the Sun
1023		160 000 Gm2	Area swept by Mars' orbit around the Sun
		281 000 Gm2	Surface area of a Dyson sphere with a radius of 1 AU
1024	1 yotta square meter (m2) 1 square terametre (Tm2)	1.9 Tm2	Area swept by Jupiter's orbit around the Sun
		6.4 Tm2	Area swept by Saturn's orbit around the Sun
		8.5 Tm2	Surface area of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse
1025		24 Tm2	Surface area of the hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris
		26 Tm2	Area swept by Uranus' orbit around the Sun
		64 Tm2	Area swept by Neptune's orbit around the Sun
1026		110 Tm2	Area swept by Pluto's orbit around the Sun

1027 square metres and larger

List of orders of magnitude for areas 10²⁷ square metres and larger.

Factor (m2)	Multiple	Value	Item
1030	1 square petametre (Pm2)
1031		10 Pm2
1032		200 Pm2	Roughly the surface area of an Oort Cloud
		300 Pm2	Roughly the surface area of a Bok globule
1033		1 000 Pm2
1034		30 000 Pm2	Roughly the surface area of The Bubble nebula
1035		100 000 Pm2
1036	1 square exametre (Em2)
...
1041		700 000 Em2	Roughly the area of Milky Way's galactic disk
1042	1 square zettametre (Zm2)
...
1048	1 square yottametre (Ym2)
1054	1 square ronnametre (Rm2)	2.4 Rm2	Surface area of the observable universe[95]

See also

• Orders of magnitude
• List of political and geographic subdivisions by total area

References

1. Calculated: square of the Planck length = (1.62e-35 m)^2 = 2.6e-70 m^2
2. Russ Rowlett (September 1, 2004). "Units: S". How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
3. "Femtobarn". CERN writing guidelines. CERN. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
4. Eric W. Weisstein. "Thomson Cross Section". Eric Weisstein's World of Science. Wolfram Research. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
5. "Other non-SI units". SI brochure. BIPM. Archived from the original on 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
6. ""Rule of thumb" for the area per molecule in lipid bilayer". BioNumbers. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
7. "Individual Properties of the 20 Standard Amino Acids: Properties and Images". The Amino Acid Repository. Jena Library of Biological Macromolecules. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
8. Janin, J. E. L. (1979). "Surface and inside volumes in globular proteins". Nature. 277 (5696): 491–492. Bibcode:1979Natur.277..491J. doi:10.1038/277491a0. PMID 763335. S2CID 4338901.
9. "The Nuclear Pore Complex". UIUC Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
10. "E. coli Statistics". The CyberCell Database. Archived from the original on 2011-10-27. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
11. Marcelli, Gianluca; Parker, Kim H.; Winlove, C. Peter (2005). "Thermal Fluctuations of Red Blood Cell Membrane via a Constant-Area Particle-Dynamics Model". Biophysical Journal. 89 (4): 2473–2480. Bibcode:2005BpJ....89.2473M. doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.056168. PMC 1366746. PMID 16055528.
12. Calculated: Smallest and largest common pitches were 77 micrometers and 337 micrometers. (77e-6 m)^2 ~= 6e-9 m^2. (337e-6 m)^2 ~= 114e-9 m^2 ~= 110e-9 m^2
13. Calculated: (300 dots per inch / 2.54e-2 m/inch)^(-2) = 7.2e-9 m^2
14. "Hair Fiber Composition". Retrieved 2011-09-30.
15. Calculated: 100 μm in diameter => pi * ((1e-4 m)/2)**2 = 7.9e-9 m^2
16. Calculated: pi * (0.5mm/2)^2 = 2.0e-7 m^2 and pi * (0.7mm/2)^2 = 3.8e-7 m^2)
17. "Part XIII: Facts and Figures concerning the human retina". Webvision. University of Utah. Archived from the original on 2011-10-11. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
18. Calculated: ((6e-3 m)/2)**2 * pi = 2.8e-5 m^2 and ((8e-3 m)/2)**2 * pi = 5.0e-5 m^2
19. "Coin specifications". United States Mint. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
20. Calculated: area = pi * diameter^2 / 4 = 3.14 * (19.05e-3 m)^2 = 2.850e-4 m^2
21. Taylor, Enid; Jennings, Alan (1971). "Calculation of total retinal area". Br. J. Ophthalmol. 55 (4): 262–5. doi:10.1136/bjo.55.4.262. PMC 1208280. PMID 5572268.
22. "Credit Card Dimensions". Retrieved 2011-09-30.
23. Calculated: 3 inches * 5 inches * (2.54e-2 m/inch)^2 = 9.7e-3 m^2 ~= 0.01 m^2
24. Calculated: 1 foot * 1 foot * (0.3048 meters / foot)^2 = 0.092.90304 m^2
25. "Rules of the Game". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 2011-10-27. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
26. Calculated: 29.5-29.75 inch circumference * 2.54 cm / in = 23.85-24.05 cm diameter => radius = 0.119-0.120 m => Area = 4 * pi * (0.119 m)^2 = 0.18 m^2
27. Sacco, Joseph J.; Botten, Joanne; Macbeth, Fergus; Bagust, Adrian; Clark, Peter (2010). "The Average Body Surface Area of Adult Cancer Patients in the UK: A Multicentre Retrospective Study". PLOS ONE. 5 (1): e8933. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...5.8933S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008933. PMC 2812484. PMID 20126669.
28. Notter, Robert H. (2000). Lung surfactants: basic science and clinical applications. New York, N.Y: Marcel Dekker. p. 120. ISBN 0-8247-0401-0. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
29. "Section 1.1" (PDF). Official Volleyball Rules 2011-2012. FIVB. 2010. Retrieved 2011-10-27. The playing court is a rectangle measuring 18 x 9 m, surrounded by a free zone which is a minimum of 3 m wide on all sides.
30. "Median and Average Square Feet of Floor Area in New Single-Family Houses Completed by Location" (PDF). US Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
31. "Area of a Tennis Court". The Physics Factbook. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
32. Calculated: 4,700 sq ft * (0.3048 ft/m)² = 436.644288 m²
33. "A380 Prestige Specifications" (PDF). Airbus. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2016.
34. "Extremely Large Telescope - Timeline". Retrieved 11 July 2023.
35. Calculated: 50 m * 25 m = 1250 m^2
36. "General Tables of Units of Measurement" (PDF). NIST. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-26. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 4046.87
37. "What are the Dimensions of a Football Field". Dimensions Guide. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
38. Calculated: 360 feet * 160 feet * (0.3048 m/ft)^2 = 5351 m^2 ~= 5400 m^2
39. "How Big Is An Olympic Soccer Field?". LIVESTRONG.COM. Retrieved 2012-01-04. For the Olympics, fields are supposed to measure exactly 105 meters long and 68 meters wide
40. Calculated: 105 m * 68 m = 7140 m^2
41. "General Tables of Units of Measurement" (PDF). NIST. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-26. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
42. "AFL Ground Sizes | Passy's World of Mathematics". passyworldofmathematics.com. 11 September 2011. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
43. Greenberg, Ralph. "THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA (Some Elegant Numerical Relationships)". Retrieved 2012-01-04. average length of the four sides is 230.364 meters
44. Calculated: 230.364 m^2 ~= 53068 m^2
45. Gartland, Fiona. "Valuable lead roofing stolen from Dublin bandstands". Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
46. "Holy See (Vatican City)". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
47. "The Pentagon - George Bergstrom". Great Buildings Online. Retrieved 2011-10-28. Floor area of 6.5 million square feet, 34 acres, 13.8 hectares, of which 3.7 million square feet are used for offices.
48. Holland, Oscar (2023-07-18). "The world's new largest office building is bigger than the Pentagon". CNN. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
49. "Monaco". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
50. Calculated: 1 mile * 1 mile * (1.61 km / mile)^2 = 2.59 km^2
51. "Jurisdictions: London". The International Finance Centre Portal. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
52. "New York -- Place and County Subdivision: Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density 2000". Census 2000 Summary File 1. US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2011-01-03. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
53. "San Marino". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
54. "Comparateur de territoire: Commune de Paris (75056)". INSEE. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
55. "Walt Disney World Resort". Disney By The Numb3rs. Archived from the original on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 30,500 acres
56. "Appendix II Statistics". Taipei Yearbook 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
57. "Population and Dwelling Counts". 2001 Census. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
58. "Hong Kong". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
59. "California by Place: Los Angeles city". US Census. Archived from the original on 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 498.29 square miles
60. "Cities with 100,000 or More Population in 2000 ranked by Land Area (square miles) /1, 2000 in Rank Order". U.S. Census Bureau, Administrative and Customer Services Division, Statistical Compendia Branch. March 16, 2004. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
61. "OVERVIEW OF TOKYO". Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Archived from the original on 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
62. "Kabupaten Klungkung : Data Agregat per Kecamatan" (PDF). Sp2010.bps.go.id. 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
63. "Jamaica". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
64. "Lake Profile: Victoria". World Lakes. LakeNet. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
65. "Austria". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
66. "South Korea". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
67. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
68. "Italy". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
69. "Germany". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
70. "Japan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
71. "Spain". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
72. "Turkey". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
73. "Egypt". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
74. Rosstat (Russian Statistical Service), 2010 Archived 2012-10-18 at the Wayback Machine (xls). Retrieved 2012-06-15.
75. Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
76. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 125. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
77. "Australia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
78. "Canada". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
79. "Antarctica". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
80. "FAO Resources page". FAO.org. 2010.
81. "Pluto: By the Numbers". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2015-09-28. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
82. "Russia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
83. "Map of Africa". Worldatlas.com. Retrieved 2012-01-04. 30,065,000 sq km
84. Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 502. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
85. "Earth's Moon: Facts & Figures". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2004-02-24. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
86. "Indian Ocean - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
87. "The World Factbook: Atlantic Ocean". Central Intelligence Agency. 2011-03-24. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
88. "Mars: Facts & Figures". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2003-12-15. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
89. "The World Factbook: World". Central Intelligence Agency. 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
90. "The World Factbook: Pacific Ocean". Central Intelligence Agency. 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
91. "Neptune: Facts & Figures". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2003-12-15. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
92. "Saturn: Facts & Figures". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2004-02-24. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
93. "Jupiter: Facts & Figures". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2003-12-15. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
94. "Sun: Facts & Figures". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 2011-07-03. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
95. "Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine". www.wolframalpha.com. Retrieved 2016-03-01.