What Is Nano?
A single strand of your hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide. A nanometer is so small that if you shrank a marble down to one nanometer, the Earth would shrink down to about the size of that marble. Scientists who study things this tiny are called nanotechnologists, and they build things out of just a few atoms stacked together!
What You'll Learn
- What "nano" means and how small a nanometer really is - Why tiny things can behave differently than big things - One real way nanotechnology is already in your house - A fun way to compare sizes of everyday objects
So... How Small Is Nano?
Nano means one billionth. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. That's so small you cannot see it, even with a regular microscope! Scientists use super powerful microscopes called scanning tunneling microscopes to see and even move single atoms. Here is a size ladder: an ant is about 5 millimeters long. A grain of sand is about 1 millimeter. A human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide. A red blood cell is about 7,000 nanometers wide. A strand of your DNA is only about 2.5 nanometers wide!
At the nano scale, materials can change color, strength, or even how they conduct electricity, just because of their tiny size. Gold nanoparticles are not even gold-colored. They can look red or purple!
Nanotech Is Already Around You
Some sunscreen uses tiny zinc oxide nanoparticles that block sun rays but stay clear on your skin instead of looking white and chalky. Some sports equipment, like tennis rackets and bike frames, use carbon nanotubes, which are super strong tubes made of carbon atoms, to make the equipment lighter and stronger at the same time.
Match each object to about how wide or long it is.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
About how many nanometers wide is a human hair?
Why can nanoparticles of gold look red or purple instead of gold-colored?
Look at the ingredient list on a bottle of sunscreen. If you see 'zinc oxide' or 'titanium dioxide,' you may be looking at nanotechnology used to protect your skin!
Build a Size Ladder
On a sheet of paper, draw a vertical ladder with 5 rungs. Label the rungs from biggest to smallest: an ant, a grain of sand, a human hair, a red blood cell, and a strand of DNA. Next to each rung, write your best guess of its size, then check your guesses against this lesson. Turn in your labeled size ladder drawing.
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
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