NUE 2003-2004

10⁹ m: Lunar Orbit

The mean diameter of the lunar orbit is about 800,000 km. The moon is actually in an elliptical 28-day orbit. This scale represents less than one percent of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Illustration.

10⁸ m: One Quarter Distance to Moon

The 100,000 km scale places us one quarter of the way to the moon. The mean distance of the moon from the Earth is about 384,400 km. The Earth diameter is about 13,000 km, filling about one-eighth of the field of view at this distance. NASA photograph from the Apollo 16 mission.

10⁷ m: North America

North America is the 3rd largest continent, spanning about 8,000 km from coast to coast. Because of its vast size, neighboring oceans, and variety of terrains, North America exhibits 5 major climates. The rich geology of the continent has made the U. S. and Canada two of the world’s largest mining countries. NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA, Scientific Visualization Studio , Television Production NASA-TV/GSFC.

10⁶ m: Great Lakes Region

The Great Lakes consist of 5 fresh bodies of water spanning a large section of the U. S. and Canada: Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. They were created as glaciers carved out valleys in shale and sandstone and filled them with glacial meltwater. False color composite image from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer data acquired with the NOAA Polar Orbiter Satellite. Remote sensing image from Dr. Drew Pilant.

10⁵ m: Keweenaw Peninsula

The Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior is the northernmost region of Michigan. An active geological history consisting of volcanism, glaciation, sedimentation, and other factors led to a unique regional geology. Included were rich deposits of native copper, leading to a fascinating history of copper mining in the area. Satellite image collected by the Landsat Thematic Mapper from MTU Dept. of Geological Engineering and Sciences.

10⁴ m: Houghton Area

Portions of the Houghton and Hancock area are shown along with a section of the Keweenaw Waterway. Satellite image collected by the Landsat Thematic Mapper from MTU Dept. of Geological Engineering and Sciences.

10³ m: Michigan Tech Campus

Kilometer Scale: The main campus of Michigan Technological University is located near the waters of the Portage Canal in Houghton. Aerial photo from Digital Tech.

10² m: EERC Building

The Electrical Energy Resources Center (EERC) Building is located near the center of the Michigan Tech campus.

10¹ m: Mineral Museum

The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum of Michigan Tech occupies the 5th floor of the EERC Building. It is the Official Mineralogical Museum of Michigan, displaying 20,000 minerals from its collection of over 60,000 specimens. Optical photograph.

10⁰ m: Minerologist

Meter Scale: A mineralogist stands inside the mineral museum holding a 12-cm sample of calcite containing graphite crystals. The rock sample is from western Namibia. Optical photograph.

10^-1 m: Graphitic Calcite

Decimeter Scale: Several graphite crystals, ranging in size from 0.3 to 1.0 cm across, in calcite marble from western Namibia. Optical photograph.

10^-2 m: Graphite Crystals

Centimeter Scale: Platy, hexagonal graphite crystals in calcite. Optical photograph.

10^-3 m: Growth Spiral on Graphite

Millimeter Scale: A graphite crystal (3 mm across) showing spiral growth steps on the surface. Optical differential interference contrast photograph by Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).

10^-4 m: Growth Hillocks and Steps

At this scale, several unusual growth hillocks are visible near the edges of the spiral growth steps on the graphite crystal. Hillocks are small protuberances (often pyramidal) on the surface of a crystal. Atomic force microscope (AFM) image (deflection data) by Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).

10^-5 m: Growth Hillock

Close up of a growth hillock on the graphite crystal shows closely spaced steps. One sector of the hillock (at the top) seems to be missing. Atomic force microscope (AFM) image (deflection data) by Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).

10^-6 m: Dislocation Growth Spiral

The pyramidal surfaces of the hillocks on the graphite surface contain numerous "fundamental" growth spirals nucleated by a screw dislocation. The height of the steps in these spirals is 6.7 x 10^-10 m, the unit cell dimension of graphite along [001]. The average step separation is 90 nanometers. Arrows point to step regions of height 3.3 x 10^-10 m, the d-spacing of graphite along [001]. Atomic force microscope (AFM) image (deflection data) by Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).

10^-7 m: Atomic-Scale Step

Close up of a step on a "fundamental" growth spiral. The step is 6.7 x 10^-10 m high, the unit cell dimension of graphite along [001]. The field of view is approximately 10^-7 m. Atomic force microscope (AFM) image (deflection data) by Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).

10^-8 m: Hexagonal Lattice

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) image of carbon atoms on the surface (basal plane) of graphite. Image courtesy of Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).

10^-9 m: Nanoscale Field of View

Atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) image of carbon atoms on the surface (basal plane) of graphite. The carbon-carbon bonds in the layers are 1.42 x 10^-10 m, and are stronger than those in diamond. Image courtesy of Dr. John Rakovan (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio).