• Question: What is nanoscience?

    Asked by 536bera35 to Colin, John, Kevin, Shikha, Triona on 7 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Shikha Sharma

      Shikha Sharma answered on 7 Nov 2014:


      Hi 536bera35,
      Thanks for asking this question. The strange world of nanoscience- this is the area which fascinates me the most.
      Nanoscience is the the science of tiny particles, typically of sizes of less than 100 nanometres (nm). So, one meter is equal to 1,000,000,000 nanometer. The size of a grain of sand is 0.0005 meter and a human hair measures roughly 50,000 to 100,000 nanometers in diameter. So, now you can image how tiny these particles are. We are living on a scale of meters and kilometres, it’s quite hard for us to imagine a world that’s too small to see.
      Nanoscience is considered as an exciting new field within materials science, but it is actually not new. You can see hundreds of examples of nanomaterial in nature and many of the current nano products are inspired from them. Some of the examples of natural nanomaterial are colors in the wings of butterflies, fireflies that glow at night and milk and blood are some of the natural colloids. There are lot more examples of nanoscience in nature. It is also the science behind how are computers and phones are getting smaller and faster. And other very important application of nanoscience is in medical devices for faster detection of microorganisms.

      There is so much to talk about nanoscience. This information is just as tiny as the nanometer is 🙂
      Shikha

    • Photo: Kevin Motherway

      Kevin Motherway answered on 7 Nov 2014:


      Science. But really really small.

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