Nano- Explained

Nano (symbol n) is a unit prefix meaning one billionth. Used primarily with the metric system, this prefix denotes a factor of 10⁻⁹ or . It is frequently encountered in science and electronics for prefixing units of time and length.

Examples:

• Three gold atoms lined up are about one nanometer (nm) long.
• If a toy marble were scaled down to one nanometer wide, Earth would scale to about 1m (03feet) wide.^[1]
• One nanosecond (ns) is about the time required for light to travel 30 cm in air, or 20 cm in an optical fiber.
• One nanometer per second (nm/s) is approximately the speed that a fingernail grows.

The prefix derives from the Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: [[Wiktionary:νᾶνος|νᾶνος]] (Latin Latin: nanus), meaning "dwarf". The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) officially endorsed the usage of nano as a standard prefix in 1960.

When used as a prefix for something other than a unit of measure (as for example in words like "nanoscience"), nano refers to nanotechnology, or means "on a scale of nanometres" (nanoscale).

Nanometre

X-rays have a wavelength ranging from the size of 0.01 nm to 10 nm.

Human fingernails grow at approximately one nanometer per second.^[2]

See also

• RKM code

Notes and References

1. Web site: Size of the Nanoscale. National Nanotechnology Initiative. 2020-05-14.
2. Web site: Examples of Nanoscale Objects . 2024-03-16 . ThoughtCo . en.