Powers+of+Ten+book+by+Eames

=Powers of Ten Book by the Eames Office=

toc Read here about the book called "Powers of Ten" produced by Ray Eames, and written by the Morrisons. This book is one of the finest superscale surveys in print.

=Overview= Powers of Ten: About the Relative Size of Things in the Universe, by Philip and Phylis Morrison and the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Published by Scientific American Books, it was the first in a series of books for laymen.

=Table Of Scales=

Table of scales in the exhibit (this list is the same in the Eames's film, book and exhibit).
 * Power of Ten || Title ||
 * 25 || Far extreme of time and space in Cosmology ||
 * 24 || Empty space, distant galaxies like clotted dust ||
 * 23 || Virgo Cluster of galaxies ||
 * 22 || Galactic companionship: Local Group of galaxies with Andromeda and 30 others ||
 * 21 || Milky Way with the Clouds of Magellan and 14 dwarf galaxies ||
 * 20 || Milky Way galaxy spiral ||
 * 19 || Milky Way galaxy structure and its rich broth of stars. ||
 * 18 || Within the disk of the Galaxy. ||
 * 17 || Stars. Interstellar space. ||
 * 16 || Distance to our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri. ||
 * 15 || A light year. One central star, the sun. ||
 * 14 || Great cloud of icy comets, the Oort Cloud ||
 * 13 || Celestial neighborhood of the Solar System ||
 * 12 || Outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) ||
 * 11 || Inner planets with portions of Jupiter’s orbit ||
 * 10 || Inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), path Earth travels in six weeks ||
 * 9 || Pth Earth and Moon travel in four days ||
 * 8 || The Earth and Moon ||
 * 7 || Path Earth travels in one hour ||
 * 6 || The Earth. ||
 * 5 || A region, state, province, or small country: Lake Michigan ||
 * 4 || A city: Metropolitan area of Chicago. ||
 * 3 || A town or village ||
 * 2 || Largest living organisms, buildings, ships ||
 * 1 || Community, the built environment, a field ||
 * 0 || People, human companionship ||
 * -1 || A hand ||
 * -2 || Skin, delicate flowers, small creatures, width of an adult fingernail ||
 * -3 || Creases of the skin ||
 * -4 || Precision surgery and fine blood vessels ||
 * -5 || White blood cell, a lymphocyte ||
 * -6 || Membrane of a lymphocyte cell nucleus ||
 * -7 || Portion of a chromosome ||
 * -8 || DNA double helix, an individual gene or simple virus ||
 * -9 || Base pairs of DNA ||
 * -10 || Outer electron shell of a carbon atom. ||
 * -11 || Innermost electron shell of a carbon atom. ||
 * -12 || Gamma ray wavelength ||
 * -13 || Carbon atom nucleus ||
 * -14 ||
 * -15 || Inner structure of the proton ||
 * -16 || Domain within which quarks operate ||
 * -17 ||
 * -18 || A quark, electron or positron ||

=Critical evaluation=

The book was the first volume of a popular and long running series by Scientific American.

=Texts From The Book= Below are phrases from the book. Note that these texts are the sole property of the Eames office and are cited here for research purposes only.

10^-16
What will we see, and what will we come to understand, once we enter the next level?

10^-15
Even the proton has an inner structure.

10^-14
Eternally dancing structure of stable carbon-12.

10^-13
Minute and massive kernel of this particular carbon atom.

10^-12
Compact core of the atom begins to appear.

10^-11
Two innermost electrons of the carbon atom.

10^-10
Quantum laws of atomic motion require a description of electron motion that is more subtle and sequential.

10^-9
Letters of the genetic message (amino acids).

10^-8
Close-up of the DNA, the double helix.

10^-7
Long molecules, the coiled coils of DNA.

10^-6
Inside the ruffly lymphocyte, a protective membrane.

10^-5
White blood cell, a lymphocyte.

10^-4
Intimate world within.

10^-3
Just below the skin of a man, the world of the microscopist.

10^-2
Skin as if through a strong magnifier.

10^-1
Back of your own hand.

10^0
Scale of human companionship.

10^1
A man and a woman.

10^2
Roaring highway and boats at their docks. =10^3= Not a maplike tracery of symbols, but a scene of familiar places within the city: Lake Shore Drive, Soldier’s Field. =10^4= The heart of the city, burned in 1871. =10^5= Metropolitan area of Chicago. =10^6= Low orbit, all of Lake Michigan. =10^7= The Earth in detail.

10^8
The whole appears, isolated, elegant and fragile.

10^9
Companion moon, our nearest celestial neighbor. =10^10= The path marks the earth’s way for four days in October, within it the moon’s route.

10^11
Inner solar system. The green arc is traversed by planet Earth during some six weeks each September and October.

10^12
Rocky inner worlds.

10^13
Pluto’s orbit

10^14
Copernican aspect of the solar system =10^15= Great cloud of icy comets

10^16
One central star, the sun.

10^17
Visible stars strewn so deep.

10^18
Arcturus is prominent. =10^19= Within the disk of the Galaxy.

10^20
Clouds of stars with patches of darkening dust. =10^21= Look face-on directly at the Milky Way spiral.

10^22
Milky Way and two satellite galaxies.

10^23
Cosmic region.

10^24
Virgo Cluster.

10^25
Empty space, distant galaxies like clotted dust.

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