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[Music]

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the picnic near the lakeside in Chicago

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is the start of a lazy afternoon early

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one October we begin with a scene one

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meter wide which we view from just one

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meter away now every 10 seconds we will

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look from 10 times farther away and our

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field of view will be 10 times wider

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this square is 10 meters wide and in 10

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seconds the next square will be 10 times

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as wide our picture will center on the

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picnickers even after they've been lost

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to sight 100 meters wide the distance a

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man can run in 10 seconds cars crowd the

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highway powerboats lie at their docks

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the colorful bleachers are soldiers

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filled this square is a kilometer wide

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1000 meters the distance a racing car

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can travel in 10 seconds we see the

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great city on the lakeshore 10 to the

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4th meters 10 kilometers the distance a

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supersonic airplane can travel in 10

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seconds we see first the rounded end of

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Lake Michigan then the whole great lake

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10 to the 5th meters the distance in

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orbiting satellite covers in 10 seconds

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long parades of clouds the day's weather

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in the middle west 10 to the sixth a one

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with six zeros a million meters soon the

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earth will show as a solid sphere

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[Music]

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we are able to see the whole earth now

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just over a minutes along the journey

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earth diminishes into the distance but

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those background stars are so much

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farther away if they do not yet appear

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to move

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[Laughter]

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a line extends at the true speed of

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light in one second at half crosses the

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Tilted orbit of the moon

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[Music]

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[Laughter]

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[Music]

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now we mark a small part of the path in

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which the earth moves about the Sun now

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the orbital paths of the neighbor

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planets Venus and Mars then mercury

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entering our field of view is the

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glowing center of our solar system the

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Sun followed by the massive outer

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planets swinging wide in their big

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orbits that are orbit belongs to Pluto a

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fringe of a myriad comets too faint to

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see completes the solar system

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[Music]

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10 to the 14th as the solar system

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shrinks to one bright point in the

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distance our Sun is plainly now only one

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among the stars looking back from here

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we note four southern constellations

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still much as they appear from the far

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side of the earth

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[Music]

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this squares 10 to the 16th meters one

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light-year not yet out to the next star

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our last 10 second step took us 10

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light-years further the next will be a

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hundred our perspective changes so much

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in each step now that even the

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background stars will appear to converge

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at last we passed the bright star

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Arcturus and some stars of the Dipper

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normal but quite unfamiliar stars and

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clouds of gas surround us as we traverse

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the Milky Way galaxy

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[Music]

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giant steps carry us into the outskirts

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of the galaxy and as we pull away we

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begin to see the great flat spiral

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facing us

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the time and path we chose to leave

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Chicago has brought us out of the galaxy

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along a course nearly perpendicular to

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its disk

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the two little satellite galaxies of our

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own are the clouds of Magellan 10 to the

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22nd power the million light years

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[Music]

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groups of galaxies bring a new level of

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structure to the scene glowing points

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are no longer single stars but whole

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galaxies of stars seen as one we pass

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the big Virgo cluster of galaxies among

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many others a hundred million light

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years out as we approach the limit of

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our vision we pause to start back home

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this lonely scene the galaxies like dust

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is what most of space looks like this

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emptiness is normal the richness of our

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own neighborhood is the exception the

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trip back to the picnic on the lakefront

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will be a sped-up version reducing the

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distance to the Earth's surface by one

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power of 10 every 2 seconds in each two

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seconds will appear to cover 90% the

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remaining distance back to earth

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notice the alternation between great

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activity and relative inactivity a

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rhythm that will continue all the way

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into our next goal a proton in the

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nucleus of a carbon atom beneath the

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skin on the hand of the sleeping man at

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the picnic

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[Music]

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ten to the ninth meters ten to the eight

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seven six five four three two one we are

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back at our starting point we slow up at

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one meter 10 to the 0 power

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[Music]

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now we reduce the distance to our final

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destination by 90% every 10 seconds each

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step much smaller than the one before

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at 10 to the -2 1/100 of a meter 1

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centimeter we approach the surface of

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the hand

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in a few seconds we were entering the

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skin crossing layer after layer from the

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outermost dead cells into a tiny blood

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vessel within skin layers vanish and

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turn an outer layer of cells del t

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collagen the capillary containing red

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blood cells in a roughly lymphocyte we

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enter the white cell among its vital

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organelles the porous wall of the cell

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nucleus appears the nucleus within holds

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the heredity of the man in the coiled

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coils of DNA as we close in we come to

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the double helix itself a molecule like

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a long twisted ladder whose rungs of

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paired bases spell out twice in an

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alphabet of four letters words of the

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powerful genetic message at the atomic

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scale the interplay of form and motion

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becomes more visible we focus on one

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commonplace group of three hydrogen

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atoms bonded by electrical forces to a

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carbon atom four electrons make up the

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outer shell of the carbon itself they

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appear in quantum motion is a swarm of

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shimmering points at ten to the minus 10

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meters one angstrom we find ourselves

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right among those outer electrons now we

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come upon the two inner electrons held

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in a tighter swarm as we draw toward the

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atoms attracting Center we enter upon a

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vast inner space at last the carbon

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nucleus so massive and so small this

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carbon nucleus is made up of six protons

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and six neutrons

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we are in a domain of universal modules

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there are protons and neutrons in every

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nucleus electrons in every atom atoms

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bonded into every molecule out to the

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farthest galaxies

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as a single proton fills our scene reach

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the edge of present understanding are

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these some quarks that intense

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interaction our journey has taken us

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through 40 powers of 10 if now the field

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is one unit then when we saw many

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clusters of galaxies together it was 10

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to the 40th or 1 and 40 zeroes

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[Music]