Question 38604
One cm is exactly the width of an aspirin tablet.  So if you line up 8 aspirin tablets in a row, that would be a width of 8 cm.  The width of an adult hand is approximately 10 cm, so it is almost the width of an adult hand.  When you mention an 8 cm. mass, it makes me think possibly of surgery for breast cancer.  While the lump to be removed might be small, less than 1 cm, the surgeon wants to make sure he/she "gets it all" when he/she removes the lump.  It may be necessary to remove a mass of 8 cm.  This is a fairly large area, which would be a circle perhaps nearly the width of your hand.  Does that help?


R^2 at SCC