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There
are 1 billion (1,000,000,000) nanometers in 1 meter
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There
are 1 million (1,000,000) micrometers (or microns) in 1 meter
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A line
of ten hydrogen atoms lined up side by side is 1 nanometer long
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Your
finger nail grows 1 nanometer in 1 second
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The
diameter of your hair is approximately 50,000 nanometers
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The
abbreviation for nanometer is “nm”
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Nanostructures
are materials that, in at least one dimension, measure approximately 1 – 100 nm
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Nanostructures
or nanomaterials exhibit properties different from their macroscale
counterparts (their “big brothers”) such as:
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Mechanical
strength (how hard they are to break)
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Electrical
conductivity (how fast electrons flow through them)
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Thermal
conductivity (how fast heat flows through them)
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Chemical
reactivity (how well/fast they react with other chemicals)
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Transparency
(how well you can see through them)
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Magnetism
(whether or not they are magnetic)
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… and
many more…
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Microstructures,
the cousin to nanostructures, typically measure between 100 nanometers and 100
micrometers in at least one dimension, but likely do not exhibit unique
properties like nanostructures do