1. Adapted from Nanosense
STEM ED/CHM NSTA 2008
How Big is a Nanometer?
Adapted from Nanosense

2. www.umassk12.net/nano Educational materials (including today)
Summer institute

3. Adapted from Nanosense
This activity
On our website
Other useful nanoscience materials
Other nanotechnology and power of ten resources:

4. How Big is a Nanometer?
IBM chip
UMass Logo
TI mirror array

5. The Nano Scale
Nano materials are typically 1 to 100 nanometers in size
1 nanometer = 1/1,000,000,000 meters
How do such materials fit into the overall scale of objects in nature?
And how big is a nanometer in terms of something basic?

6. We’ll use powers of ten
Handy way to express very large or very small numbers.
Easier than writing lots of zeros!
106
reads 'ten to the 6'
is 1 followed by 6 zeros, 1,000,000
is 1.0 with the point moved right by 6 places

7. Negative powers of 10 10-6 reads 'ten to the minus 6'
is 1 divided by 106 , 1/1,000,000
is 1.0 with the point moved left by six places, 0.000,001

8. How big is a meter?
Width?
~2 meters
Height?
~ 1 meter

9. 101 meters = 10 meters
Adapted from

10. 100 meter = 1 meter

11. 10-1 meters = 0.1 meters
fly

12. 10-2 meters = 0.01m
1 centimeter = 1 cm

13. 10-3 meters = meters
1 millimeter = 1 mm
Fly’s eye

14. 10-4 meters = meters
Fly’s eye as seen with electron microscope

15. 10-5 meters = meters
Red blood cells

16. 10-6 meters = 0.000,001 meters
Bacteria

17. 10-7 meters = 0.000,000,1 meters
Computer Chip details
10-7 meters

18. 10-8 meters = 0.000,000,01 meters
“Quantum corral” of iron atoms on a copper surface

19. 10-9 meters = 0.000,000,001 meters DNA (1 nanometer = 1 nm)
3 nanometers
DNA

20. meters = 0.000,000,000,1 meters
Carbon atom, with 6 electrons and a nucleus

21. 10-14 meters = 0.000,000,000,000,01 meters Carbon nucleus,
made up of 6 protons and 6 neutrons

22. Proton (or neutron) composed of 3 quarks
meters = 0.000,000,000,000,001 meters
1 femtometer = 1 fm
Proton (or neutron) composed of 3 quarks

23. So how big is a nanometer?
Carbon atom diameter ~ m
10 x m = m
1 nanometer ~ 10 atoms wide
Nano wires and tubes are x 10 atoms in diameter
Nano films are a x 10 atoms in thickness
Nano particles are 1 to 100 x 10 atoms in diameter

24. The Size Me Challenge Each team has an envelope containing
A 3 page list of powers of ten
24 picture cards
Place each card next to the appropriate power of ten
Size matches will be approximate
Some matches will be easy, some will be hard!

25. That’s all for now