Sentence:  One night there were some dried peas lying on our kitchen table , and these peas <WSD>looked</WSD> to me like a little group of atoms ; and I asked myself a question : Suppose I had the same number of peas as there are atoms in my body , how large an area would they cover ? 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect