• Question: how small is DNA

    Asked by mshariffali99 to Bob, Katie, Nisha, Sallie, Vee on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Vee Mitchell

      Vee Mitchell answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      DNA is incredibly small. The largest of the human chromosomes is 67 microns (one micron is one thousandth of a mm) in length.
      Of course, within the cell, DNA is coiled into a ball much smaller than its length.

      There are 46 chromosomes inside the nucleus of the cells of your body all coiled up and the nucleus is only about 5 microns in diameter.

    • Photo: Bob Bonwick

      Bob Bonwick answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      Tiny, if you unravelled all of your DNA it will come to about 2 meters in length but only a few nanometers (a millionth of a mm) in width

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