What is a Nanometer?
Lesson focuses on how to measure at the nano scale and provides students with an understanding of how small a nanometer really is. Students work in teams and measure a range of everyday classroom items, first using metric rulers and then convert the results to the nano scale.
- Learn about nanotechnology.
- Learn about scale.
- Learn about engineering design.
- Learn about teamwork and working in groups.
Age Levels: 8 – 12
Build Materials (For each team)
Required Materials
- Ruler
- Eraser
- Pencil
- Pencil sharpener
- Other classroom objects of your selection (i.e. child’s scissors, used crayon, index card, piece of chalk, calculator, doorknob, roll of tape)
Design Challenge
You are part of a team of engineers who has been given the challenge of measuring ten objects in your classroom at the nano scale — in nanometers (nm). Measure each object in millimeters and then convert using the following formula: 1 millimeter = 1,000,000 nanometers or 1 centimeter = 10,000,000 nanometers.
Criteria
- Measure each object in millimeters and then convert using the formula
Constraints
- Use only the materials provided
Procedure
- Break class into teams of 2-3.
- Hand out the What is a Nanometer worksheet, as well as some sheets of paper for sketching designs.
- Discuss the topics in the Background Concepts Section.
- Review the Engineering Design Process, Design Challenge, Criteria, Constraints and Materials.
- Provide each team with their materials.
- Explain that students must work as a team to determine the measurement in nanometers of ten classroom objects.
- Announce the amount of time they have to complete the assignment (1 hour recommended).
- Use a timer or an on-line stopwatch (count down feature) to ensure you keep on time. (www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch). Give students regular “time checks” so they stay on task. If they are struggling, ask questions that will lead them to a solution quicker.
- Students meet and complete the assignment.
- As a class, discuss the student reflection questions.
- For more content on the topic, see the “Digging Deeper” section.
Optional Model-making Extension
Have students build a model representing how when working at the nano scale, surface area can be increased. This could be done with basketball that has table tennis or ping pong balls attached all over the surface. This will help visually illustrate how surface area can be manipulated at the nano scale.
Student Reflection (engineering notebook)
- What was the most surprising thing you learned about nanotechnology during this activity?
- Do you think you would be able to see an element that was 10 nanometers wide without the aid of technology?
- If a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick, how do you think an engineer would go about moving an element that is only 30 nanometers thick — such as the gold particle to the right?
- Do you think that engineers working at the nano scale have a harder time doing their work than engineers who are working with larger objects, such as batteries, rockets, or sheets of steel?Why?
- Do you think that nanotechnology might have the most impact on the development of materials, improvements in energy options, or in advances in healthcare? Why?
Time Modification
The lesson can be done in as little as 1 class period for older students. However, to help students from feeling rushed and to ensure student success (especially for younger students), split the lesson into two periods giving students more time to brainstorm, test ideas and finalize their design. Conduct the testing and debrief in the next class period.
Teacher Resource
Measuring Nano – Sample Completed Student Worksheet
You are part of a team of engineers who has been given the challenge of measuring ten objects in your classroom at the nano scale — in nanometers (nm). Measure each object in millimeters, and then convert using the following formula:
1 millimeter = 1,000,000 nanometers
or
1 centimeter = 10,000,000 nanometers
So, if you used a crayon that was 4 centimeters long, it would also be 40,000,000 nanometers in length.
Measuring Phase
Complete the following measurements as a group: (examples below) Classroom Object Original Measurement Measurement in Nanometers
- Dull edge child’s scissor 11 centimeters 110,000,000 nanometers
- New pencil with eraser 19 centimeters 190,000,000 nanometers
- Used crayon 9 centimeters 90,000,000 nanometers
- Pencil Eraser 5.5 centimeters 55,000,000 nanometers
- Pencil Sharpener 2.55 centimeters 25,500,000 nanometers
- Index card height 12.55 centimeters 125,500,000 nanometers
- Used piece of chalk 23.5 millimeters 23,500,000 nanometers
- Calculator 92.75 millimeters 92,750,000 nanometers
- Doorknob 50.25 millimeters 50,250,000 nanometers
- Roll of tape 47.55 millimeters 47,550,000 nanometers
What is Nanotechnology?
Imagine being able to observe the motion of a red blood cell as it moves through your vein. What would it be like to observe the sodium and chlorine atoms as they get close enough to actually transfer electrons and form a salt crystal or observe the vibration of molecules as the temperature rises in a pan of water? Because of tools or ‘scopes’ that have been developed and improved over the last few decades we can observe situations like many of the examples at the start of this paragraph. This ability to observe, measure and even manipulate materials at the molecular or atomic scale is called nanotechnology or nanoscience. If we have a nano “something” we have one billionth of that something. Scientists and engineers apply the nano prefix to many “somethings” including meters (length), seconds (time), liters (volume) and grams (mass) to represent what is understandably a very small quantity. Most often nano is applied to the length scale and we measure and talk about nanometers (nm). Individual atoms are smaller than 1 nm in diameter, with it taking about 10 hydrogen atoms in a row to create a line 1 nm in length. Other atoms are larger than hydrogen but still have diameters less than a nanometer. A typical virus is about 100 nm in diameter and a bacterium is about 1000 nm head to tail. The tools that have allowed us to observe the previously invisible world of the nanoscale are the Atomic Force Microscope and the Scanning Electron Microscope.
How Big is Small?
It can be hard to visualize how small things are at the nanoscale. The following exercise can help you visualize how big small can be! Consider a bowling ball, a billiard ball, a tennis ball, a golf ball, a marble, and a pea. Think about the relative size of these items.
Scanning Electron Microscope
The scanning electron microscope is a special type of electron microscope that creates images of a sample surface by scanning it with a high energy beam of electrons in a raster scan pattern. In a raster scan, an image is cut up into a sequence of (usually horizontal) strips known as “scan lines.” The electrons interact with the atoms that make up the sample and produce signals that provide data about the surface’s shape, composition, and even whether it can conduct electricity. Many images taken with scanning electron microscopes maybe viewed at www.dartmouth.edu/~emlab/gallery.
How Small is Small?
It can be challenging to envision just how small a nanometer is! What is a Nanometer? A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. But how big is that?
The chart below should help you understand how small a nano really is. Notice that a centimeter is 1/100th of a meter. That also means that a meter is 100 times as big as a centimeter. If an object were a meter wide, it would also be 1,000,000,000 nanometers wide. So something that is only 1 nm wide is very small indeed.
| Symbol | Relative Size | |
| meter | m | Three feet or one yard |
| centimeter | cm | 1/100 of a meter, about half of an inch |
| millimeter | mm | 1/1,000 of a meter |
| micrometer or a micron | µm | 1/1,000,000 of a meter, often called a micron |
| nanometer | nm | 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter |
Internet Connections
Recommended Reading
- Nanotechnology For Dummies (ISBN: 978-0470891919)
- Nanotechnology: Understanding Small Systems (ISBN: 978-1138072688)
Writing Activity
Write an essay or a paragraph with three examples about how the invention of the electron microscope has impacted the world.
Alignment to Curriculum Frameworks
Note: Lesson plans in this series are aligned to one or more of the following sets of standards:
- U.S. Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962)
- U.S. Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/)
- International Technology Education Association’s Standards for Technological Literacy (http://www.iteea.org/TAA/PDFs/xstnd.pdf)
- U.S. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=16909)
- U.S. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (http://www.corestandards.org/Math)
- Computer Science Teachers Association K-12 Computer Science Standards (http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/K12Standards.html)
National Science Education Standards Grades K-4 (ages 4 – 9)
CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities, all students should develop
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science
As a result of the activities, all students should develop an understanding of
- Properties of objects and materials
CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology
As a result of activities, all students should develop
- Abilities of technological design
- Understanding about science and technology
CONTENT STANDARD G: History and Nature of Science
As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of
- Science as a human endeavor
National Science Education Standards Grades 5-8 (ages 10 – 14)
CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities, all students should develop
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Understandings about scientific inquiry
CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science
As a result of their activities, all students should develop an understanding of
- Properties and changes of properties in matter
CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop
- Abilities of technological design
- Understandings about science and technology
Next Generation Science Standards Grades 2-5 (Ages 7-11)
Matter and its Interactions
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
- 5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (ages 6 – 18)
Number and Operations Standard
- Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems
- Understand meanings of operations and how they relate to one another
- Compute fluently and make reasonable estimates
Measurement
- understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement.
- apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (ages 6 – 18)
Problem Solving
- build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving.
- solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.
- apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems.
- monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving.
Connections
- recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.
Representation
- create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas.
- select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems.
Common Core State Standards for School Mathematics Grades 2-8 (ages 7-14)
Measurement and data
- Measure and estimate lengths in standard units.
- CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.A.1 Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes.
- Represent and interpret data.
- CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.A.3 Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters.
Common Core State Standards for School Mathematics Grades 2-8 (ages 7-14)
Measurement & Data (continued)
- Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements.
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.1 Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table. For example, know that 1 ft is 12 times as long as 1 in. Express the length of a 4 ft snake as 48 in. Generate a conversion table for feet and inches listing the number pairs (1, 12), (2, 24), (3, 36), …
- Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system.
- CCSS.Math.Content.5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.
Standards for Technological Literacy – All Ages
The Nature of Technology
- Standard 1: Students will develop an understanding of the characteristics and scope of technology.
- Standard 3: Students will develop an understanding of the relationships among technologies and the connections between technology and other fields of study.
Design
- Standard 9: Students will develop an understanding of engineering design.
Abilities for a Technological World
- Standard 13: Students will develop abilities to assess the impact of products and systems.
How Big is Small?
It can be hard to visualize how small things are at the nanoscale. The following exercise can help you visualize how big small can be!
The following are drawings of items you may recognize…. a bowling ball, a billiard ball, a tennis ball, a golf ball, a marble, and a pea. Think about the relative size of these items.
Now take a look at the chart below that was developed by the National Cancer Institute (U.S.) and think about how much smaller the various items are…moving down from the familiar tennis ball. The “.” on this page is 1,000,000 microns — quite gigantic compared to a virus or a single molecule of water (H20).
It can be challenging to envision just how small a nanometer is!
What is a Nanometer?
A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. But how big is that? The chart below should help you understand how small a nano really is. Notice that a centimeter is 1/100th of a meter. That also means that a meter is 100 times as big as a centimeter. If an object were a meter wide, it would also be 1,000,000,000 nanometers wide. So something that is only 1 nm wide is very small indeed.
The picture to the right is of Single gold nanoparticle crystals formed using radiolysis at Sandia National Laboratory’s Gamma Irradiation Facility.
The gold nanoparticle is approximately 30 nm in size.
| Symbol | Relative Size | |
| meter | m | about three feet or one yard |
| centimeter | cm | 1/100 of a meter, about half of an inch |
| millimeter | mm | 1/1,000 of a meter |
| micrometer or a micron | µm | 1/1,000,000 of a meter, often called a micron |
| nanometer | nm | 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter |
Measuring in Nanometers:
You are part of a team of engineers who has been given the challenge of measuring ten objects in your classroom at the nano scale — in nanometers (nm).
Measure each object in millimeters, and then convert using the following formula:
1 millimeter = 1,000,000 nanometers
or
1 centimeter = 10,000,000 nanometers
So, if used crayon was 4 centimeters long, it would also be 40,000,000 nanometers in length.
Measuring Phase
Complete the following measurements as a group:
| Classroom Object | Original Measurement | Measurement in Nanometers |
| 1. | ||
| 2. | ||
| 3. | ||
| 4. | ||
| 5. | ||
| 6. | ||
| 7. | ||
| 8. | ||
| 9. | ||
| 10. |
Evaluation Phase
Complete the following questions as a group:
1. What was the most surprising thing you learned about nanotechnology during this activity?
2. Do you think you would be able to see an element that was 10 nanometers wide without the aid of technology?
3. If a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick, how do you think an engineer would go about moving an element that is only 30 nanometers thick — such as the gold particle to the right?
4. Do you think that engineers working at the nano scale have a harder time doing their work than engineers who are working with larger objects, such as batteries, rockets, or sheets of steel? Why?
5. Do you think that nanotechnology might have the most impact on the development of materials, improvements in energy options, or in advances in healthcare? Why?
Downloadable Student Certificate of Completion
