How Far Away is the Moon? (The Scale of the Universe)

If the Earth were the size of a basketball and the moon a tennis ball, how far apart would they be? Diagrams that are not to scale make us think that they're closer than they really are.

[pleappleappleap]

No matter how big you think space is, it's bigger.

[vinbia]

The correct answer would be:
"Roughly?"
* throws ball away *
"Close enough."

[thamessinclair]

I'd like to see a similar take on how far away an electron would be from a hydrogen proton.

[veritasium]

Um, are you trolling? I've already discussed in these comments how the scale of a tennis ball and basketball is almost perfect.

[friedchickenUSA]

laughing uncontrollably at the thought of one guy taking the tennis ball and just YEETing it into the distance

[veritasium]

@EchoCosmic Wow. Because this is the internet I never know if people are just trolling. In case you're not, a basketball and a tennis ball are a pretty good scale model. Moon diam/ Earth diam = 3500km/12750km = 0.27 Tennis ball/Basketball = 6.5cm/25cm = 0.26

[BIitzcrank]

"8 minutes to the Sun"
"4 years to the nearest star"
Nice contradiction you got there.

[veritasium]

@GodDamnPontiac careful! The Earth's diameter is roughly 13, 000 KILOMETERS (and the distance to the moon is actually 385, 000km) so you can fit about 30 Earths between the Earth and moon.

[Ziscor_]

Luckily I have the Kerbal Space Program to thank for knowing the accurate rough distance between Earth and Moon before seeing this video.

[veritasium]

The number of stars in our galaxy is between 100-400 billion, not one trillion. The best estimate of galaxies in the visible universe is >170 billion. When dealing with numbers this big (and uncertain) nobody really cares about a factor of 2.

[TheSonicUniverse]

I love this you guys! I've been thinking a lot about this issue with people and their lack of understanding about proportions in the Universe or even just from here to our moon. Fun and informative! :)

[settlingorca]

Just the fact how the nearest star is 4 light years away shows how snall we are.

[mzzz]

Roughly about there...
Him: no your wrong


Gets a pin out and stabs the basketball...

Him: THE EARTH IS FLAT

[michaelfrymus]

All the planets in our solar system fit between the earth & the moon, with room to spare.

[MexMX]

Love it. Interestingly they say we could feel minuscule on universal scale, but if you think about it, we're more on the large side if you consider sizes from point particles to the most massive structures in the universe. It blows minds. Absolutely astonishing.

[xmdbro]

We meet again, fellow traveler.
I have received the answer I was searching for, now I must continue my journey through the long forgotten depths of youtube.
We'll cross paths again, if the good algorithm will decide that is our destiny.
Farewell, fellow traveler, hope you will find the answers you seek.

10 years after, think about what Derek achieved with his channel... Crazy isn't it?

[petacardi]

It feels nice seeing something old recomendend by something that is already old.
Old but gold.
Thanks vsacue lean back.

[DemoniteBL]

I was just facepalming until the girl actually moved a bit.

[johnbarron]

How frightening if the moon actually were as close as most people believed. It would cause mass extinction within a matter of hours.