Nano-

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This article is about the SI prefix. For other uses, see Nano (disambiguation).
Look up nano- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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 1 meter (3.3 ft) wide.[1]
  • One nanosecond is about the time required for light to travel 30 cm in air, or 20 cm in an optical fiber.

The prefix derives from the Greek νᾶνος (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". See nanoscopic scale.

SI prefixes
Prefix Base 10 Decimal Adoption
[nb 1]
Name Symbol
quetta Q 1030 1000000000000000000000000000000 2022[2]
ronna R 1027 1000000000000000000000000000
yotta Y 1024 1000000000000000000000000 1991
zetta Z 1021 1000000000000000000000
exa E 1018 1000000000000000000 1975[3]
peta P 1015 1000000000000000
tera T 1012 1000000000000 1960
giga G 109 1000000000
mega M 106 1000000 1873
kilo k 103 1000 1795
hecto h 102 100
deca da 101 10
— — 100 1 —
deci d 10−1 0.1 1795
centi c 10−2 0.01
milli m 10−3 0.001
micro μ 10−6 0.000001 1873
nano n 10−9 0.000000001 1960
pico p 10−12 0.000000000001
femto f 10−15 0.000000000000001 1964
atto a 10−18 0.000000000000000001
zepto z 10−21 0.000000000000000000001 1991
yocto y 10−24 0.000000000000000000000001
ronto r 10−27 0.000000000000000000000000001 2022[2]
quecto q 10−30 0.000000000000000000000000000001
Notes
  1. ^ Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. The introduction of the CGS system was in 1873.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Size of the Nanoscale". National Nanotechnology Initiative. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  2. ^ a b "On the extension of the range of SI prefixes". 18 November 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Metric (SI) Prefixes". NIST.
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