Difference between revisions of "Nano"
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Latest revision as of 14:59, 24 August 2016
Origin
fr. Latin from Greek nanos ‘dwarf.’
Definition
- 1: a. denoting a factor of 10−9 (used commonly in units of measurement): nanosecond.
- b. denoting a very small item: nanoplankton.
Description
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 0.000000001. It is frequently encountered in science and electronics for prefixing units of time and length.
Examples:
- One nanometer is about the length that a fingernail grows in one second.
- Three gold atoms lined up are about one nanometer long.
- If a toy marble were scaled down to one nanometer wide, Earth would scale to about one meter (3.3 feet) wide.[1]
- One nanosecond is about the time required for light to travel 30 cm in air, or 20 cm in an optical fiber.
When used as a prefix for something other than a unit of measure (as in "nanoscience"), nano refers to nanotechnology, or on a scale of nanometres. See nanoscopic scale.
