What is nanotechnology? What is a nanometer?
Nanotechnology is the creation of useful materials, devices, and systems used to manipulate matter at an incredibly small scale — between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter – 1/80,000 the width of a human hair, or about ten times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. Such nanoscale objects can be useful by themselves, or as part of larger devices containing multiple nanoscale objects. Nanotechnology has the potential to enable the translation of molecular-based science into clinical advances, thereby facilitating major progress in the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The emerging field of nanotechnology involves scientists from many different disciplines including physicists, chemists, engineers, material scientists, and biologists. Nanotechnology is being applied to almost every industry imaginable, including, but not limited to electronics, magnetics and optoelectronics, energy, information technology, materials development, transportation, p