A Stunning Scale Model Illustrating The History of Time

Alex Gorosh and Wylie Overstreet of To Scale: Films took on the enormous task of devising a practical scale model that illustrates the course of time. 13.8 billion years of evolution plotted on 4.3 miles of a dry lakebed in the Mojave desert.

Along with some friends, we built a massive scale model of the history of the universe to show where we fit in the vast ocean of time.

Gorosh stated that he learned a very important lesson with this project.

Every person you’ve ever heard of in this last centimeter of space. And your life would be less than the width of a hair. That is your life against the history of the universe. …This is it, we have one life. We are alive for the briefest moment. But that time is a gift from the universe.

Here’s background footage showing how this immense task was achieved over five years.

 “To Scale: TIME” took 5 years of arduous, repetitive, unrewarding, unpaid work. And then, suddenly, it was all worth it. I have never been so proud of anything.

via Colossal

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.