How Small is That? (7-8)
Introduction: Nanotechnology is not a separate field of science, it is the
application of knowledge and process at a scale we aren’t familiar
with - one that is very small. The illustration to the right is of a
buckyball - 60 atoms of carbon connected in a way that looks like
a soccer ball. A buckyball measures about 1 nanometer across.
Scientists know the properties of some materials are incredibly
math.ucr.edu
different at the nanolevel than at the macrolevel. A buckyball has
properties very different than other forms of carbon. You are probably familiar
with two other kinds of carbon, graphite and diamond.
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to begin to understand the scale used by
nanoscientists.
Materials: 10 craft sticks, ruler, calculator
Procedure:
1. You are probably familiar with the metric prefixes kilo- (meaning 1000) and
milli- (meaning 0.001). The prefix nano- is appearing more often in newspaper
and magazine articles. What does the term nano mean to you?
Answers will vary.
2. Perhaps you “read” the prefix nano- as very small and that’s OK. Your job
today is to figure out just how small that really is. There are one billion
(1,000,000,000) nanometers in a meter. Write one billion in scientific notation.
1 x 109
3. Measure the length of the craft stick in centimeters. Write the length below.
11.4cm
4. a. If you laid 10 craft sticks end to end, how far away would the last craft stick
be? Show the work you do to answer the question in the space below.
114cm
b. Convert your answer to meters. Would 10 craft sticks fit on your desk or lab
table?
1.14m 10 craft sticks would fit on most lab tables but probably not on a typical
single student desk.
5. a. If you laid 100 craft sticks end to end, how far away would the last craft stick
be? Show the work you do to answer the question in the space below.
1140cm
b. Convert your answer to meters. Would 100 craft sticks fit on your desk or lab
table? Would they fit in the classroom? You may have to do some measuring to
find out! Describe how you figured out your answer below.
11.4m 100 craft sticks would not fit on a desk or lab table but might fit in a
classroom.
6. a. If you laid 1000 craft sticks end to end, how far away would the last craft
stick be? Show the work you do to answer the question in the space below.
11,400cm
b. Convert your answer to meters. Would 1000 craft sticks fit in the classroom?
Would they fit in the longest hallway of your school? (You may have to do some
measuring to find out!) Describe how you figured out your answer below.
114m Obviously this answer depends on the size of your school! (The hall outside
my classroom is only 60m long, but that is not the longest hall in my school.
Summing Up:
1. Scientists working at the nanolevel work with units called nanometers. There
are 1 billion nanometers in one meter. The buckyball pictured on the first page
measures about 1nm across. If you laid 10 buckyballs end to end, how far away
would the last one be?
The last one would be 10nm away.
2. What if you laid 100 buckyballs end to end; how far away would the last one
be?
The last one would be 100nm away.
3. What if you laid 1000 buckyballs end to end; how far away would the last one
be?
The last one would be 1000nm away.
4. How many nanometers are equal to 1 centimeter?
1,000,000nm is the same as 1cm
5. If 10,000 buckyballs were laid end to end, would they be more or less than
1cm in length? How do you know?
10,000 buckyballs would be 10,000nm long. There are 10,000,000nm in one
centimeter so they would measure much less than 1cm.
How Small is That?
Introduction: Nanotechnology is not a separate field of science, it is the
application of knowledge and process at a scale we aren’t familiar
with - one that is very small. The illustration to the right is of a
buckyball - 60 atoms of carbon connected in a way that looks like
a soccer ball. A buckyball measures about 1 nanometer across.
Scientists know the properties of some materials are incredibly
math.ucr.edu
different at the nanolevel than at the macrolevel. A buckyball has
properties very different than other forms of carbon. You are probably familiar
with two other kinds of carbon, graphite and diamond.
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to begin to understand the scale used by
nanoscientists.
Materials: 10 craft sticks, ruler, calculator
Procedure:
1. You are probably familiar with the metric prefixes kilo- (meaning 1000) and
milli- (meaning 0.001). The prefix nano- is appearing more often in newspaper
and magazine articles. What does the term nano mean to you?
2. Perhaps you “read” the prefix nano- as very small and that’s OK. Your job
today is to figure out just how small that really is. There are one billion
(1,000,000,000) nanometers in a meter. Write one billion in scientific notation.
3. Measure the length of the craft stick in centimeters. Write the length below.
4. a. If you laid 10 craft sticks end to end, how far away would the last craft stick
be? Show the work you do to answer the question in the space below.
b. Convert your answer to meters. Would 10 craft sticks fit on your desk or lab
table?
5. a. If you laid 100 craft sticks end to end, how far away would the last craft stick
be? Show the work you do to answer the question in the space below.
b. Convert your answer to meters. Would 100 craft sticks fit on your desk or lab
table? Would they fit in the classroom? You may have to do some measuring to
find out! Describe how you figured out your answer below.
6. a. If you laid 1000 craft sticks end to end, how far away would the last craft
stick be? Show the work you do to answer the question in the space below.
b. Convert your answer to meters. Would 1000 craft sticks fit in the classroom?
Would they fit in the longest hallway of your school? (You may have to do some
measuring to find out!) Describe how you figured out your answer below.
Summing Up:
1. Scientists working at the nanolevel work with units called nanometers. There
are 1 billion nanometers in one meter. The buckyball pictured on the first page
measures about 1nm across. If you laid 10 buckyballs end to end, how far away
would the last one be?
2. What if you laid 100 buckyballs end to end; how far away would the last one
be?
3. What if you laid 1000 buckyballs end to end; how far away would the last one
be?
4. How many nanometers are equal to 1 centimeter?
5. If 10,000 buckyballs were laid end to end, would they be more or less than
1cm in length? How do you know?