Nano-

Nano (symbol n) is a unit prefix meaning one billionth. Used primarily with the metric system, this prefix denotes a factor of 10−9 or 0.000 000  001. It is frequently encountered in science and electronics for prefixing units of time and length.


 * Examples:
 * Three gold atoms lined up are about one nanometer (nm) long.
 * If a toy marble were scaled down to one nanometer wide, Earth would scale to about 1 m wide.
 * One nanosecond (ns) is about the time required for light to travel 30 cm in air, or 20 cm in an optical fiber.
 * One nanometer per second (nm/s) is approximately the speed that a fingernail grows.

The prefix derives from the Greek νᾶνος (Latin nanus), meaning "dwarf". The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) officially endorsed the usage of nano as a standard prefix in 1960.

When used as a prefix for something other than a unit of measure (as for example in words like "nanoscience"), nano refers to nanotechnology, or means "on a scale of nanometres" (nanoscale).

Nanometre
X-rays have a wavelength ranging from the size of 0.01 nm to 10 nm.

Human fingernails are growing 1 nanometer per second.