The key difference between macroscopic and microscopic is that the term macroscopic refers to substances that are visible to naked eye whereas the term microscopic refers to substances that are invisible to the naked eye.
The terms macroscopic and microscopic refers to two different scales that are useful in determining the size of different compounds. Macroscopic substances are large enough to be seen by the naked eye without any magnifying instrument. On the contrary, microscopic substances are very small that are not large enough to be seen by the naked eye. Thus, we need a magnifying instrument such as a microscope, in order to examine these substances.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Macroscopic
3. What is Microscopic
4. Side by Side Comparison – Macroscopic vs Microscopic in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Macroscopic?
The term macroscopic refers to substances that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye. That means, we can observe these substances without a magnifying instrument. Because of this size, the units of measurement that we can use to measure the dimensions of these substances are millimetres, centimetres, kilometres, etc.
Figure 01: Butterfly in Macroscopic Scale
Moreover, as examples of substances in the macroscopic scale, we can give names of any substance that we see from a single strand of hair to a large vehicle.
What is Microscopic?
The term microscopic refers to substances that are very small, therefore, we cannot observe them without a magnifying device. Therefore, we need to use optical instruments such as magnifying lenses, light microscope, electron microscope, etc. in order to observe these substances. It is the scale between macroscopic scale and quantum scale.
Figure 02: Sizes of Different Microscopic Scale Substances
Hence, the units for measurement of this scale are micrometres, nanometers, etc. As examples of substances on a microscopic scale, we can give microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc.
What is the Difference Between Macroscopic and Microscopic?
The term macroscopic refers to substances that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye whereas the term microscopic refers to substances that are very small and we cannot observe them without a magnifying device. Thus, this is the key difference between macroscopic and microscopic. Because of this, we can measure the dimensions of macroscopic substances in units such as millimetres, centimetres, kilometres, etc. while we can measure the dimensions of microscopic substances in units such as micrometres and nanometers. Also, another important difference between macroscopic and microscopic substances is that there is no need of any magnifying optical instrument to observe macroscopic substances whereas we need optical instruments such as lenses, light microscope, electron microscope in order to observe microscopic substances.
The below infographic presents the difference between macroscopic and microscopic in tabular form for quick reference.
Summary – Macroscopic vs Microscopic
The terms macroscopic and microscopic refers to two different scales that we categorize different substances according to their size and visibility. The key difference between macroscopic and microscopic is that the term macroscopic refers to substances that are visible to naked eye whereas the term microscopic refers to substances that are invisible to the naked eye.
Reference:
1. “Macroscopic Scale.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Sept. 2018. Available here
2. “Microscopic Scale.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Sept. 2018. Available here
Image Courtesy:
1.”3268047″ by trishmartin (CC0) via pixabay
2.”Biological and technological scales compared-en”By Guillaume Paumier, Philip Ronan, NIH, Artur Jan Fijałkowski, Jerome Walker, Michael David Jones, Tyler Heal, Mariana Ruiz, Science Primer, Guillaume Paumier (National Center for Biotechnology Information) (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Commons Wikimedia