Technology, scaled: from visible to almost unimaginable
How often do we really think about the scale of the technologies we use? How small are the elements that make up a single device — and how far does that scale extend beyond what we can see?
In one of its videos, Branch Education approaches this question through a simple visual idea. The animation moves through a sequence of objects and technologies, gradually shifting from the familiar to the almost imperceptible.
Along the way, it introduces points of reference that make scale easier to grasp — from a grain of salt and a snowflake to micro-scale systems such as RoboBee, or one of the smallest computers ever created, developed in 2015 at the University of Michigan.
The result is less about exact measurements and more about perspective. Terms like “nanometre” or “2 nm process” are often used in the industry, but remain abstract. Here, they become something else — a sense of scale that is difficult to grasp until it is visualised.
Sometimes, that is enough.
