1 decimetre

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.

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 = 9.144 dm — 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

• Orders of magnitude (area)

Notes

References