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The world is full of billions of objects, both natural and man-made, large and small. Most tiny things go unnoticed, some invisible to the naked eye. These invisible things include germs, bacteria, and dust mites. But what is the smallest thing in the world?
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Some things in the world are unimaginably small, even beyond your expectations. You may need microscopes, telescopes, or magnifying glasses to see them. This article explores the most impressive and diminutive things in the world, from those crafted by nature to those shaped by human ingenuity.
What is the smallest thing in the world?
The world has infinite small things, from the most miniature animals to the smallest known living organisms. The minuscule size of some of these things will change your perspective on your world.
1. Quarks
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Quarks are the smallest particles in the world. In the past, scientists thought atoms were the smallest particles. However, after splitting atoms, they found electrons made of elementary particles, unlike protons and neutrons, which are made of even smaller particles called quarks. Quarks can no longer be broken down further, making them the most minor things in the world.
2. Gun — Miniature Revolver CIST
Source: Getty Images
The Swiss mini gun called the Miniature Revolver CIST is the smallest working revolver worldwide. It is 2.2 inches or 5.5 centimetres long, 1.4 inches or 3.5 centimetres tall, 0.39 inches or 1 centimetre wide, and weighs 0.70 ounces or 19.8 grams. It can fully fire 2.34 mm calibre rounds.
The Miniature Revolver CIST was manufactured in Switzerland by Swiss Mini Gun. Due to its ease of concealment, the importation of the Swiss mini gun was banned in many countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
3. Camera — OmniVision OV6948
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The world's smallest camera is OmniVision OV6948, the size of a grain of sand. It was manufactured by US-based OmniVision Technologies and won the Guinness World Record for the Smallest Image Sensor Commercially Available. The camera measures 0.65 x 0.65 x 1.158 mm, while its tiny sensor is 0.575 x 0.575 x 0.232 mm.
Despite its size, the camera features a resolution of 200 x 200, with each pixel measuring just 1.75 micrometres across. It produces colour images using an RGB Bayer filter.
4. Car — Peel P50
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The smallest production car ever is the Peel P50, which was first manufactured from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company. It is 54 inches or 137 centimetres long, 39 inches or 99 centimetres wide, and weighs 130 pounds or 59 kilograms.
The original P50 had a 49.2 cc engine and a top speed of 37 mph or 60 km/h. It was equipped with a three-speed manual transmission with no reverse. The car gained more attention when Jeremy Clarkson demonstrated it during a 2007 episode of the famous British TV series Top Gear.
5. Battery — On-chip micro battery
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Researchers in Chemnitz, Germany, led by Chemnitz University of Technology, have created the world's smallest battery capable of powering computers the size of a speck of dust. The on-chip micro battery comprises a series of coiled strips of film that recoil and produce enough electricity to power a small sensor for up to ten hours.
It is less than one square millimetre across and rechargeable. Sensors based on micro batteries could be used in medical research and monitoring.
6. Non-flying mammal — Etruscan shrew
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According to Guinness World Records, the Etruscan shrew is considered the smallest non-flying mammal in the world. It is also known as the Etruscan pygmy shrew, white-toothed pygmy shrew and Savi's pygmy shrew. It has a head and body length of 1.3 to 1.8 inches or 25 to 30 mm and weighs 0.05 to 0.09 oz or 1.5 to 2.5 grams. It is found in the Mediterranean, Asia, and southwards to South Africa.
7. Dog — Chihuahua Pearl
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As recognised by Guinness World Records, the smallest dog in the world is a Chihuahua named Pearl. Pearl is the relative of Miracle Milly, which previously held the world record for being the world's smallest dog. Milly died in 2020 before Pearl was born.
Pearl was born on 1 September 2020 and was just 28 grams at birth. It measured 3.59 in or 9.14 centimetres tall and 5.0 in or 12.7 centimetres in length.
8. Bird — bee hummingbird
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The bee hummingbird is the smallest living organism in the world. These birds are easily mistaken for bees because they weigh around 1.6 grams. They are only found in Cuba. They are 2.2 inches or 5.5 centimetres long for males and females at around 2.4 inches or 6.1 centimetres long.
Their dainty eggs are approximately 6 mm long and are laid into tiny, cup-shaped nests made of cobwebs and moss. The beautiful bird has tiny wings that beat 80 times a second in flight. They are only found in Cuba and feed on flower nectar.
9. Movie — A Boy and His Atom
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A Boy and His Atom is the world's smallest film. It is a stop-motion short movie from 2013 by IBM Research Laboratories in San Jose, California, USA. Guinness World Records certified it as the Smallest Stop-Motion Film ever.
It comprises 242 individual frames with a frame size of only 45 nanometres by 25 nanometres or 45 by 25 billionths of a metre. The stop-motion animation uses dozens of carbon monoxide molecules moved with the tiny tip of a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM). The scientists behind it earned the 1986 Nobel Prize in physics.
10. Book — Flowers of the Four Seasons
According to Guinness World Records, the most miniature printed book in the world is Flowers of the Four Seasons. It measures 0.0291 by 0.0295 in or 0.74 by 0.75 mm and has 22 pages with sections for each of the four seasons. Two hundred fifty copies were printed from April to December 2012 by Toppan Printing Co., Ltd Printing Museum (Japan) in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan.
How small is a quark?
Protons and neutrons are made of particles called quarks. The radius of the quark is smaller than 43 billion billionths of a centimetre (0.43 x 10 x 16 cm). It is 2000 times smaller than a proton radius.
What's the smallest thing humans have made?
Some of the smallest known objects include human-made particles, one of which is called an "onium" (plural: onia). Additionally, there are unique forms of matter known as "exotic atoms."
Many have wondered, "What is the smallest thing in the world?" The earth is a whole of many tiny objects. While the most minor thing in the world is not a single item, the vast entities that fit that title across categories inspire wonder. These colossal entities remind man of the natural world's grandeur and humanity's relentless ambition to harness it.
Legit.ng recently published an article on the fastest car in the world. Several factors should be considered: good crash ratings, high-quality airbags, and a car quickly picking up speed.
Fast-moving automobiles are a true modern sensation that is fun to ride. Most of these fastest vehicles are sports cars. These cars include Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, McLaren Speedtail, and Tesla Roadster.
Source: Legit.ng
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