Orders of magnitude (speed)

To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various speed levels between approximately 1×10⁻¹⁰ m/s and 3×10⁸ m/s. Values in bold are exact.

List of orders of magnitude for speed

List of orders of magnitude for speed

Factor	Value (m/s)	Value (km/h)	Value (mph)	Item
10−11	9.8×10−11	3.5×10−10	2.2×10−10	Rate of global sea level rise in 1993–2003 (3.1 mm/year).[1]
10−10	3×10−10 to 3×10−9	1×10−9 to 1×10−8	7×10−10 to 7×10−9	Typical relative speed of continental drift.
10−9	1.3×10−9	4.68×10−9	2.9×10−9	Average rate of the Moon receding from the Earth (approx. 38 mm/year).
	4.8×10−9	1.7×10−8	1.1×10−8	Human hair growth (average rate; note that there is a great range of variation).
10−6	1.52×10−6	5.4×10−6	3.4×10−6	Speed of a cellular vesicle propelled by a motor protein.[2]
10−5	1.4×10−5	5.0×10−5	3.1×10−5	Growth rate of bamboo, the fastest-growing woody plant, over 24 hours.[3]
10−4	4.0×10−4	1.4×10−3	8.9×10−4	Speed of Jakobshavn Isbræ, one of the fastest glaciers, in 2003.[4]
	6×10−4	2.2×10−3	1.3×10−3	Typical speed of Thiovulum majus, the fastest-swimming bacterium.[5]
10−3	0.00275	0.00990	0.00615	World record speed of the fastest snail in the Congham, UK.[6]
10−2	0.0476	0.171	0.106	Compact cassette tape speed.[7]
	0.080	0.29	0.18	The top speed of a sloth.
10−1	0.2778	1	0.6214	1 km/hour.
	0.44704	1.609344	1	1 mph.
	0.5144	1.852	1.151	1 knot (nautical mile per hour)
100	1.2	4.32	2.68	Typical scanning speed of an audio compact disc. The speed of signals (action potentials) traveling along axons in the human cortex.
	1–1.5	3.6–5.4	2.2–3.4	Average walking speed; below a speed of about 2 m/s, it is more efficient to walk than to run, but above that speed, it is more efficient to run.
	2.39	8.53	5.35	World record time 50m freestyle swim (20.94 seconds)
	5.72	20.42	12.80	World record time marathon (2h03m59s)
	6–7	20–25	12–15	Comfortable bicycling speed.
101	10.438	37.578	23.349	Average speed of Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt whilst setting the 100m world record in Berlin on 16 August 2009.
	8–14	30–50	18–31	Typical residential speed limit. Top speed of a running cat or dog.
	14	50	31	Typical speed of road-race cyclist.
	17	60	37	Typical speed of thoroughbred racehorse or racing greyhound.
	5–25	18–90	11–56	Speed of propagation for unmyelinated sensory neurons.
	30	110	70	Typical speed of car (freeway), Cheetah—fastest of all terrestrial animals, Sailfish—fastest Fish. Speed of go-fast boat.
	36	130	81	Land speed record for a human powered vehicle.
	40	140	90	Typical peak speed of a local service train (or intercity on lower standard tracks).
	67	240	149	The top speed of the world's fastest roller coaster, Formula Rossa.
	90	320	200	Typical speed of a modern high-speed train (e.g. latest generation of production TGV), a diving Peregrine Falcon—fastest bird. 320 km/h or 200 mph is a parameter sometimes used in defining a supercar.[8]
	91	328	204	Fastest recorded ball (a golf ball) in sports.[9]
102	103	370	230	Speed of super torpedo VA-111 Shkval.
	103.5	372.6	231.5	Maximum speed recorded by a Formula One car. Set by Juan Pablo Montoya during the 2005 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a McLaren MP4-20.
	105.5	379.8	236	Maximum speed of a Ferrari F50 GT1.
	119.742	431.072	267.86	Maximum speed of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (currently the fastest production car in the world).
	120	432	270	Speed of propagation for mammalian motor neurons.
	130	468	290	Wind speed of a powerful tornado.
	150.6	539	337	Top speed of an internal-combustion-powered NHRA Top Fuel Dragster.
	157	575	351	Top speed of experimental test TGV in 2007.
	161	580	360	Top speed of JR-Maglev in 2003.
	250	900	560	Typical cruising speed of a modern jet airliner, e.g. an Airbus A380.
	274.44	988	614	Highest speed recorded during a free fall set by Joe Kittinger.
	320	1,200	720	The speed of a typical .22 LR bullet.
	340.3	1,225	761	Speed of sound in standard atmosphere (15 °C and 1 atm).
	344.66	1,240.77	770.98	Max speed reached by the jet-propelled car ThrustSSC in 1997—Land speed record.[10]
	428	1,540.8	957	Max speed of Bell X-1.
	464	1,670	1,040	Speed of Earth's rotation at the equator.
	603	2,170.8	1,350	Speed of the Concorde airliner.
	975	3,510	2,180	Muzzle velocity of M16 rifle.
	981	3,532	2,194	SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest aircraft driven by a mechanical jet engine.
103	1,400	5,040	3,100	Speed of the Space Shuttle when the solid rocket boosters separate.
	1,500	5,400	3,400	Speed of sound in water.
	1,500	5,400	3,400	Speed of sound in soft tissue.[11]
	1,789	6,443	4,002	Speed of BrahMos II hypersonic cruise missile
	2,000	7,200	4,500	Estimated speed of a thermal neutron.
	2,019	7,268.4	4,516	Speed of the North American X-15 rocket plane.
	2,700	9,600	6,000	Speed of wind on exoplanet HD 189733b.[12]
	2,885	10,385	6,453	Top speed of the fastest rocket sled.[13]
	3,373	12,144	7,546	Speed of the X-43 rocket/scramjet plane.
	4,500	16,000	10,000	A typical value for the specific impulse of current rockets.
	7,700	27,700	17,200	Speed of International Space Station and typical speed of a satellite and the space Shuttle in low Earth orbit.
	7,777	28,000	17,400	Speed of propagation of the explosion in a detonating cord.
104	11,107	39,985.2	24,846	Speed of Apollo 10 – high speed record for manned vehicle.
	11,200	40,320	25,100	Escape velocity from Earth.
	16,100	57,900	36,000	Fastest projectile velocity (1994).[14]
	16,210	58,356	36,261	Escape speed from Earth by NASA New Horizons spacecraft—Fastest escape velocity.
	17,000	61,000	38,000	The approximate speed of the Voyager 1 probe relative to the sun, when it exited the Solar System.[15]
	29,800	107,280	66,700	Speed of the Earth in orbit around the Sun.
	47,800	172,100	106,900	Atmospheric entry speed of the Galileo atmospheric probe—Fastest controlled atmospheric entry for a man-made object.
	70,220	252,800	157,100	Speed of the Helios 2 solar probe—Fastest man-made object.
105	200,000	700,000	450,000	Orbital speed of the solar system in the Milky Way galaxy.
	450,000	1,600,000	1,000,000	Typical speed of a particle of the solar wind, relative to the Sun.
	552,000	1,990,000	1,230,000	Speed of the Milky Way, relative to the cosmic microwave background.
	617,700	2,224,000	1,382,000	Escape velocity from the surface of the Sun.
106	1,000,000	3,600,000	2,200,000	Typical speed of a Moreton wave across the surface of the Sun.
	1,610,000	5,800,000	3,600,000	Speed of hypervelocity star PSR B2224+65, which currently seems to be leaving the Milky Way.
	5,000,000	18,000,000	11,000,000	Estimated minimum speed of star S2 at its closest approach to Sagittarius A*.[16]
107	36,000,000	130,000,000	81,000,000	Typical speed of a fast neutron.
	30,000,000	100,000,000	70,000,000	Typical speed of an electron in a cathode ray tube.
108	100,000,000	360,000,000	220,000,000	The escape velocity of a neutron star.
	124,000,000	447,000,000	277,000,000	Speed of light in a diamond (Refractive index 2.417).
	200,000,000	720,000,000	440,000,000	Speed of a signal in a cable.
	299,792,458	1,079,252,848.8	670,616,629	Speed of light or other electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum. Also, Planck speed.

See also

• Typical projectile speeds - also showing the corresponding kinetic energy per unit mass
• Neutron temperature

References

1. ^ Bindoff, NL et al.. "Observations: Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level". Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter5.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
2. ^ Hill, David; Holzwarth, George; Bonin, Keith (2002). "Velocity and Drag Forces on motor-protein-driven Vesicles in Cells". American Physical Society, the 69th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern. abstract #EA.002. Bibcode 2002APS..SES.EA002H. 
3. ^ Farrelly, David (1984). The Book of Bamboo. Sierra Club Books. ISBN 087156825X. 
4. ^ Joughin I., Abdalati W., Fahnestock M. (2004). "Large fluctuations in speed on Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier". Nature 432 (7017): 608–610. doi:10.1038/nature03130. PMID 15577906. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v432/n7017/abs/nature03130.html. 
5. ^ Tom Fenchel (1994). "Motility and chemosensory behaviour of the sulphur bacterium Thiovulum majus". Microbiology. Microbiology (11): 3109–3116. doi:10.1099/13500872-140-11-3109. http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/140/11/3109. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
6. ^ World snail racing championships
7. ^ TDK cassette spec sheet Retrieved on 27 March 2007
8. ^ [1]
9. ^ "FSN Sport Science - Episode 7 - Myths - Jason Zuback". Sport Science. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ito3BSO-St8. Retrieved 2009-07-27. 
10. ^ ThrustSSC
11. ^ clinicalimagingscience.org - Photoacoustic Imaging: Opening New Frontiers in Medical Imaging
12. ^ Discovery Space: Top 10 Extrasolar Planets
13. ^ 846 TS Hypersonic Upgrade Program
14. ^ MALCOLM W. BROWNE (March 22, 1994). "Fastest Gun on Earth: Goals Go Beyond Planet". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/22/science/fastest-gun-on-earth-goals-go-beyond-planet.html. Retrieved July 31, 2011. 
15. ^ Speed of the Voyager Space Probes
16. ^ Surfing a Black Hole