A How Big Are Things? Cube

The idea: A physical print-cut-fold-and-tape How Big Are Things? reference cube provides a nicely tangible and compact presentation of size. Each face shows a different scale. It covers atoms through Jupiter. The 10 cm paper cube can sit on one's desk, providing an attractive and handy reference.

This is very much a work-in-progress, but I'm putting it online to help see if there is any interest in it.

Preview

Here is an online preview, so you can see roughly what the paper cube looks like, without having to make it.

Mouse over thumbnails...

The Cube

US Letter size
PDF.gz1.1 MB
PDF.bz21.1 MB
PDF.Z2.4 MB
PDF10.1 MB
.ps.gz3.6 MB
   A4 paper size
PDF.gz1.1 MB
PDF.bz21.1 MB
PDF.Z2.4 MB
PDF10.2 MB
.ps.gz3.6 MB

Printing at high resolution (perhaps >= 500 dpi) is necessary, or the millimeter grid will be crufty.

Works best on card stock (200 g/m2, 110 lb), but good paper (eg, 90 g/m2, 24 lb) works ok too.

Comments encouraged - Mitchell N Charity <mncharity@vendian.org>
Notes:

Doables:
  add assembly suggestions
   folding order.  and technique?
   notching and folding tab ends so they stay in
   taping and gluing tips.  folding taped tabs hard.  and adding gaps.
  make preview image's "bigger/smaller" clickable 

History:
  2003-Nov-10  Added 'gray titlebar' orientation aid, and visual wavelengths.
  2003-Aug-06  Added A4 paper versions.  And a note about paper thickness.  Cube unchanged.
  2003-Jul-14  "New" May-29 draft replaces Apr-11 version.
               Mostly a bugfix (tiny Liberty should have been 0.1 mm, not 1 mm).
               But also added a rough Earth area diagram.
               There has been no interested expressed in the cube.
  2003-Apr-11  Online.