What is NANO?1 nanometer (nm) = 10-9 meters (m)

ONE BILLIONTH OF A METER!

Atom: ~0.1 nmDNA double helix: ~2 nm wideProtein: ~10 nm longBacteria: 200 nmHuman hair: 100,000 nm widePaper: 100,000 nm thickGirl 4 feet tall: ~1.2 × 109 nm tallEmpire State Building: ~3.81 × 1011 nm tall

How do we ‘see’ NANO?

How do we ‘see’ NANO?

The smallest object that our eyes can see is the width of a

human hair.

That’s 100,000 nm!

NANO is so small that we need

special instruments to ‘see’!

Atomic Force Microscope(AFM)

http://www.nanotech-now.com/Art_Gallery/antonio-siber.htm

~30 mm scan

‘See’ by feeling

1 nm = 10-9 m

mm = micrometer

1 mm = 10-6 m

Basic operation of the AFM

Measures attractive or repulsive forces between a tip and the sample by using a laser to detect lever motion

AFM Tips

http://www.tedpella.com/probes_html/budgetsensors.htm

AFM Tips

http://www.tedpella.com/probes_html/budgetsensors.htm

The tip is roughly 20 µm long, the cantilever is 450 µm in length and20-50 µm wide, and the thickness is usually 3-4 µm thick

450 mm

20 mm

mm = micrometer1 mm = 10-6 m

Contact ModeTo get an image, a

sharp tip is scanned across a surface

Tip Size Limitations

Resolutions: X and Y: 2 – 10 nm

Z: 0.05 nm

Z

RAM Memory Chip

CD

Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria

DNA Origami 2.36 nm

0.00 nm

1.0µm

http://www.molbiotech.uni-freiburg.de/km/KM_main.htm

DNA Origami

Nature, 2006, 440, 297-302.

Human chromosome

Polymer stamp

CD