1 dimension - Distance
2 dimensions - Area
3 dimensions - Volume
2D: length & width
The same million golf balls, laid side by side on a golf course, would cover an area of grass about 100 feet long on each side.
3D: length, width & height
A million golf balls would make a nice sized load for a large truck.
News stories often distort the meaning of large numbers by mentally stringing objects out into unrealistic shapes, like hamburgers or dollar bills stacked up to the moon. As writers or readers, we need to think twice when a story describes something in one dimension if it could be more clearly seen in other ways.
Dimensions can be deceiving
One million golf balls in three different dimensions.
A
million
golf
balls
could
be
strung
together,
at
least
in
the
imagination,
into
a
single
row
that
would
be
about
26
miles
long
reaching
into
space.
The
string
of
golf
balls
would
be
more
than
four times
the
height
of
Mount Everest.
1D: length only
Turning numbers in the news into something you can use
