Macroscopic

Macroscopic means physical objects that are measurable and can be seen by the naked eye.

When one uses macroscopic for abstract objects, one thinks of the world as we see it without any help. Lengths scales are called macroscopic if they fall in the range of more or less than 1 mm or up to 1 km.

One may use the term macroscopic also for a "larger view", namely a view only available from a large perspective. A macroscopic position could be considered the "big picture".

Examples

• A macroscopic view of a ball is just that: a ball. A microscopic view could reveal a thick round skin seemingly composed entirely of cracks and fissures (as viewed through a microscope) or, further down in scale, a collection of molecules in the rough shape of a sphere.

Macroscopy in physics

In physics macroscopy is a relative term. If one looks at a galaxy, a star is microscopic in comparison with the whole galaxy, even if it is many, many orders of magnitude larger than us. macroscopy can also be described as a relation between any two objects in terms of its magnification on a scale of some sort. A macroscopic object is something that we are able to see in plain sight through our own field of vision no matter where we are located. In spacetime light must also come into contact with our eyes and the object we are observing in order for it to be visible.

Related pages

• Length