Nano-

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
  • Three gold atoms lined up are about one nanometer (nm) 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 (ns) is about the time required for light to travel 30 cm in air, or 20 cm in an optical fiber.
  • One nanometer per second (nm/s) is approximately the speed that a fingernail grows.
This article is about the SI prefix. For other uses, see Nano (disambiguation).
Look up nano- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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" (nanoscale).

SI prefixes
PrefixBase 10 Decimal Adoption
[nb 1]
NameSymbol
quettaQ1030 10000000000000000000000000000002022[2]
ronnaR1027 1000000000000000000000000000
yottaY1024 10000000000000000000000001991
zettaZ1021 1000000000000000000000
exaE1018 10000000000000000001975[3]
petaP1015 1000000000000000
teraT1012 10000000000001960
gigaG109 1000000000
megaM106 10000001873
kilok103 10001795
hectoh102100
decada10110
——1001—
decid10−1 0.11795
centic10−2 0.01
millim10−3 0.001
microμ10−6 0.0000011873
nanon10−9 0.0000000011960
picop10−12 0.000000000001
femtof10−15 0.0000000000000011964
attoa10−18 0.000000000000000001
zeptoz10−21 0.0000000000000000000011991
yoctoy10−24 0.000000000000000000000001
rontor10−27 0.0000000000000000000000000012022[2]
quectoq10−30 0.000000000000000000000000000001
Notes
  1. Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. The introduction of the CGS system was in 1873.

Nanometre
This section is an excerpt from Nanometre.[edit]
One nanometric carbon nanotube, photographed with scanning tunneling microscope
Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The nanometre is often used to express dimensions on an atomic scale and mostly in the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American spelling) is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one billionth (short scale) of a metre (0.000000001 m) and to 1000 picometres. One nanometre can be expressed in scientific notation as 1×10−9 m, and as 1/1000000000 metres.

Nanosecond
This section is an excerpt from Nanosecond.[edit]
Look up nanosecond in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A nanosecond (ns) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one billionth of a second, that is, 1⁄1 000 000 000 of a second, or 10−9 seconds.

The term combines the SI prefix nano- indicating a 1 billionth submultiple of an SI unit (e.g. nanogram, nanometre, etc.) and second, the primary unit of time in the SI.

A nanosecond is equal to 1000 picoseconds or 1⁄1000 microsecond. Time units ranging between 10−8 and 10−7 seconds are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of nanoseconds.

Time units of this granularity are commonly found in telecommunications, pulsed lasers, and related aspects of electronics.

See also

References
  1. "Size of the Nanoscale". National Nanotechnology Initiative. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  2. "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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