 Nanotechnology is a word used to describe materials and devices that are between 1 and 100 nanometers in size. The prefix “nano” means one-billionth, so a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. To illustrate how small this is, a typical piece of paper is approximately one hundred thousand nanometers thick. Even a tiny human red blood cell is around 2,000 nanometers in diameter. When scientists work on the nanoscale, they are working with the atomic structure of things, sometimes moving one atom at a time. At this scale, atomic structures can take on special properties enabling scientists to improve existing materials and create new ones. |
