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Nano
Defined
The Basics:
A nanometer
is a billionth of a meter. In scientific notation this is written as 1x10E-9,
meaning 1/1,000,000,000 meter. For those of us who are more familiar with
inches, there are about 2,540,000,000 nanometers in one inch. The application
of nanotechnology is the the creation and manufacture of mechanical devices
and materials on an atomic and molecular level. This ability will allow major
breakthoughs in engineering, medicine and science which will fundamentally
change our lives and world.
The Technologist's
view.
Nanotechnology
is an interdisciplinary domain which incorporates areas of chemistry, molecular
biology, materials science, physics and engineering, Research and technology
development at the atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels, in the length
scale of approximately 1 - 100 nanometer range, to provide a fundamental understanding
of phenomena and materials at the nanoscale and to create and use structures,
devices and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their
small and/or intermediate size. The novel and differentiating properties and
functions are developed at a critical length scale of matter typically under
100 nm. Nanotechnology research and development includes manipulation under
control of the nanoscale structures and their integration into larger material
components, systems and architectures. Within these larger scale assemblies,
the control and construction of their structures and components remains at
the nanometer scale. In some particular cases, the critical length scale for
novel properties and phenomena may be under 1 nm (e.g., manipulation of atoms
at ~0.1 nm) or be larger than 100 nm.

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