Nano Bits

Nano is from the Greek word for “dwarf”; it indicates one-billionth of something.

Nanotechnology is the creation and use of objects at the nanoscale, up to 100 nanometers in size.

1 nanometer (1nm) = 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter (close to 1/1,000,000,000 of a yard).

1 human hair is ~50,000 nanometers across; or 50 nanometers is one-thousandth the width of a human hair.

1 bacterial cell measures a few hundred nanometers across.

The smallest things seeable with the naked eye are 10,000 nanometers.

1 nanometer = 10 hydrogen atoms in a line.

When you are dealing with units that are LARGER than a meter you multiply by the appropriate factor.

When you are dealing with units that are SMALLER than a meter you multiply.

Below is a chart that shows what happens every time you multiply and divide by a thousand.

So basically if you move up the chart you multiply and if you move down the chart you divide.

The following are the scientific names for short intervals of time. The first column gives the name of the unit, the second column lists its equivalent to a second and the third column gives the unit's decimal version.

Unit Equivalent Decimal version

Second not applicable 1

Millisecond 1,000th of a second 0.001

Microsecond 1 millionth of a second 0.000001

Nanosecond 1 billionth of a second 0.000000001

Picosecond 1 trillionth of a second 0.000000000001

Femtosecond 1 quadrillionth of a second 0.000000000000001

Attosecond 1 quintillionth of a second 0.000000000000000001

Zeptosecond 1 sextillionth of a second 0.000000000000000000001

Yoctosecond 1 septillionth of a second 0.000000000000000000000001