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Macroscopic

Macroscopic means measurable and observable by the naked eye; describes existence as we perceive it.

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

In physics, macroscopy is usually taken relative to what one is observing. If one looks at galaxy, a star is a microscopic entity, even if it's many, many orders of magnitude larger than the aforementioned ball.



05-27-2008 11:01:51
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