Length Scale Diagram Showing Nanometre in Context, from 1m to 10^-10m

from "Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties"

The Royal Society & The Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) 1jul04

[see diagram below]

Length scale showing the nanometre in context. The length scale at the top ranges from 1m to 10^-10m, and illustrates the size of a football compared to a carbon 60 (C₆₀) molecule, also known as a buckyball. For comparison the world is approximately one hundred million times larger than a football, which is in turn one hundred million times larger than a buckyball. The section from 10^-7m (100nm) to 10^-9m (1nm) is expanded below. The length scale of interest for nanoscience and nanotechnologies is from 100nm down to the atomic scale - approximately 0.2nm.

Key to diagram below

1. Football (approximately 22 cm)

2. Pet flea (1mm)

3. Human hair (80 µm)

4. Red blood cells (7µm) Credit: D Marshall & D Gregory/Wellcome Photo Library

5. Icosahedral virus particles (150nm) Biomedical Electron Microscopy Unit, Newcastle University.

6. Carbon 60 (0.7nm) R.Drautz

7. Bundle of single-walled carbon nanotubes (approximately 1.4nm wide, several mm long) A Thess et al, Science 273, 483, 1996

8. Platinum/Titanium dioxide particles (Platinum particles less than 3nm in diameter are indicated by arrows on titanium dioxide) R Strobel et al, J Catal 222, 296, 2003

9. Each letter in the logo is about 5nm from top to bottom. Image reproduced by permission of IBM Research, Almaden Research Center. Unauthorized use not permitted.

10. Strand of DNA (approximately 2nm wide)

Text.