Riffing off of a video a couple of days ago which displayed the relative scale of planets in our solar system in comparison with crazy ass fucking stars and the what-not comes this video. A gentleman takes to the street to ask people how far away they think the Moon is from Earth, using the relative scale of a tennis ball and a basketball. How does the actual scale work out?

Phil Plait answers that question:

(If) the Earth is a basketball, does a tennis ball get the size of the Moon right?

The Earth is 12,740 km (7900 miles) across, and the Moon 3474 km (2150 miles) in diameter, for a ratio of 3.7.

A standard NBA basketball is 24 cm (9.4 inches) in diameter, and a tennis ball 6.7 cm (2.6 inches), for a ratio of 3.6. Pretty good! I’ll have to remember that; it’s pretty useful.

Outstanding.

Hit the jump for the video.

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