A Relatively Good Calculation

In 1905, Einstein published his special theory of relativity.  The most well-known part of this theory is almost certainly the famous E=mc² equation that predicted a future with nuclear bombs and atomic energy, but this is not the only surprising prediction.  The theory also predicted that objects shrink when they move really fast.¹  After hearing a professor describe this strange and fascinating phenomenon, I wondered two things.   First, what was Einstein smoking?  Second, if I ran really fast, would I be able to see atoms?  How fast does a person have to run to be atom sized?

According to special relativity, the length of a moving object is equal to its original length times an extra factor

L' = L [1 – (v/c)²]^0.5.

Here, c is the speed of light, L' is the length of the object when it's moving, L is the length of the object when it's not moving, and v is the velocity at which it's moving.  Our new length L' will be about 10^-10 m or roughly the size of an atom.  Our original length will be about 1.5 m.  We can solve for v

v = c [1 – (L'/L)² ]^0.5

 = (3.0×10⁸ m/s)[1 – (10^-10 m / 1.5 m)² ]^0.5

= 0.9999999999999999999977778 c.

You would need to move very close to the speed of light to be atom sized.

[1] This phenomenon is called "length contraction".