1 decimetre

An adult human foot is about 28 centimetres long.

To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 centimetres and 100 centimetres (10⁻¹ metre and 1 metre).

Distances shorter than 10 centimetres

Conversions

10 centimetres (abbreviated to 10 cm) is equal to

• 1 decimetre (dm), a term not in common use
• 100 millimetres
• 3.9 inches
• A side of a square of area 0.01 m² ^{[note 1]}
• The edge of a cube with a volume of 1 E-3 m³ ^{[note 1]} (one litre)

Wavelengths

• 10 cm = 1.0 dm^{[note 1]} – wavelength of the highest UHF radio frequency, 3 GHz
• 12 cm = 1.2 dm – wavelength of the 2.45 GHz ISM radio band
• 21 cm = 2.1 dm – wavelength of the 1.4 GHz hydrogen emission line, a hyperfine transition of the hydrogen atom
• 100 cm = 10 dm – wavelength of the lowest UHF radio frequency, 300 MHz

Human-defined scales and structures

• 10.16 cm = 1.016 dm — 1 hand used in measuring height of horses (4 inches)
• 12 cm = 1.2 dm — diameter of a Compact Disc (CD) (= 120 mm)
• 15 cm = 1.5 dm — length of a Bic pen with cap on
• 22 cm = 2.2 dm — diameter of a typical soccer ball
• 30.48 cm = 3.048 dm — 1 foot
• 30 cm = 3 dm — typical school-use ruler length (= 300 mm)
• 60 cm = 6 dm — standard depth (front to back) of a domestic kitchen worktop in Europe (= 600 mm)
• 90 cm = 9 dm — average length of a rapier, a fencing sword^[1]
• 91.44 cm is one yard
• Cigarettes 100 mm (4 in) in length

Nature

• 10 cm = 1 dm — diameter of the human cervix upon entering the second stage of labour^{[citation needed]}
• 14 cm = 1.4 dm — length of average human penis^{[citation needed]}
• 15 cm = 1.5 dm — approximate size of largest beetle species^{[citation needed]}
• 29 cm = 2.9 dm — length of average human foot^{[citation needed]}
• 29.98 cm = distance light travels in one nanosecond
• 31 cm = 3.1 dm — wingspan of largest butterfly species Ornithoptera alexandrae^{[citation needed]}
• 50 to 65 cm — a pizote's tail^{[citation needed]}
• 66 cm — length of the longest pine cones (produced by the Sugar Pine^[2])

Distances 1 metre or longer

See also

Click on the thumbnail image to jump to the desired Human-scale order of length magnitude article: top-left is 1E-6 m, lower-right is 1E5 m.

• Orders of magnitude (area)

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} m is an abbreviation of metre; cm of centimetre; dm of decimetre; m² is short for square metre; m³ is short for cubic metre

References

1. ^ http://www.2-clicks-swords.com/article/what-is-a-rapier.html
2. ^ Bohun B. Kinloch, Jr. and William H. Scheuner. "Pinus lambertiana". http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/lambertiana.htm. Retrieved June 2011.