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The word ‘nano’ is essentially derived from a numerical representation used in mathematics. In mathematics, ‘nano’ signifies 10 to the power of -9; this means that 1 nm equals 0.000000001 meters. The word “nano” comes from international scientific vocabulary. It comes from Greek; “nano” means “dwarf.”
At first it can be difficult to comprehend because the nanoscale is so much smaller than our everyday experience. We have an intuitive understanding that a dime is smaller than a basketball and even that a red blood cell (visible in the light microscope) is smaller than a marble, but we have no experience with things that are billionths (10-9) of a meter (1 nanometer, or nm) in length. When was the last time you held a strand of DNA (2.5 nm) in your hand or measured the diameter of a flu virus (100 nm)? Here are some comparisons to put into perspective how small a nanometer is:
- Your fingernail grows a nanometer every second
- A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick
- In one inch there are 25,400,000 nanometers
What is nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is a cutting-edge science in which materials are controlled, manufactured, and used at the nanometer level. The technology that can manufacture 1-100 nm sized objects is called nanotechnology. This technology works at the atomic and molecular level and can change the properties of material at a very microscopic level. For example, zinc metal becomes transparent when it reaches the nanoparticle level.
Nanotechnology is a technique through which substances are controlled in the size range of 1 to 100 nanometers, thereby changing their physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological properties and making them useful for special tasks.
Nanotechnology is not simply working at ever smaller dimension; rater, working at the nanoscale enables scientists to understand and utilize the unique physical, chemical, mechanical, and optical properties of material that occurs at this level.
| Points | Description |
| Scale | Between 1 to 100 nanometers |
| Level | Atomic, molecular, and nanoscale particles |
| Objective | To control and modify the properties of material to make them more efficient, durable, and effective |
| Field of application | Medicine, electronics, environment, energy, agriculture, defense, etc. |
Importance of nanomaterial
Nanomaterials are very important because the nanoscale-sized material has specific physical, chemical, and biological properties. Nanotechnology is making things easy in many areas, including medicine (improving medicine delivery, imaging, and diagnostics), energy (solar cells, batteries, and catalysts), and electronics (smaller, faster, and more efficient devices). Their high surface-to-volume ratio increases reactivity and strength, making them suitable for lightweight composites, sensors, and environmental remediation.
Why is nanomaterial too efficient?
Nano material is very efficient due to certain reasons
- Increase in the relative surface area
- Quantum effect
- Change in properties.
Must watch- more about nanotechnology
Relative surface area
Relative surface area refers to the surface-to-volume ratio. As we reduce the size of a substance, we discover new properties of that substance, but these new properties of the substance are visible only on the nanoscale.
On the nanoscale, the ratio of surface area to volume increases, which changes the effects of the physical properties of the same substance, such as mechanical, thermal, optical, and catalytic.
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Quantum mechanics effect
When we reduce the size of a substance to 10 nanometers or less, then the quantum mechanical effect of the same substance comes to the fore, where the laws of conventional physics and chemistry do not apply.
The optical, magnetic, and electrical properties of matter change significantly as a result of quantum mechanics effects.
When particles with dimensions of about 1-100 nm are created, the properties of material can change significantly from those at a larger scale. This is the size scale where quantum effects can control the behavior of properties of particles.
At the nanoscale, properties such as melting point, fluorescence, electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, and chemical reactivity can change depending on the size of the particles.
Most of the structures of the living body are of nanosize, which can be used at the industrial level.
