Question

Describe the actual and relative sizes of a virus, a bacterium, and a plant or animal cell.

Answer 1

Answer:

Virus Note that a typical virus measures about 100 nm, 10 times smaller than a typical bacterium (~1 µm), which is at least 10 times smaller than a typical plant or animal cell (~10–100 µm). An object must measure about 100 µm to be visible without a microscope.

Bacteria Most common bacteria are about 1 to 2 microns in diameter and 5 to 10 microns long. A micron is one millionth of a meter, or 1/10,000th of a centimeter. The human eye is amazing. Still, unaided, the smallest objects our eyes can see are about 100 microns long

Animal or plant cell Most animal and plant cells are 0.01 – 0.10 mm in size. The smallest thing seen with the naked eye is about 0.05 mm. For all cells we need a microscope to see them in any detail.