DNA

1
The Scale of Things Nanometers and More
Things Natural
Things Manmade
1 cm 10 mm
10-2 m
Head of a pin 1-2 mm
The Challenge
1,000,000 nanometers
10-3 m
1 millimeter (mm)
MicroElectroMechanical (MEMS) devices 10 -100 mm
wide
Microwave
0.1 mm 100 mm
10-4 m
Human hair 60-120 mm wide
0.01 mm 10 mm
Microworld
10-5 m
Pollen grain
Red blood cells
Infrared
Red blood cells with white cell 2-5 mm
Zone plate x-ray lensOuter ring spacing 35 nm
1,000 nanometers
10-6 m
1 micrometer (mm)
Visible
Fabricate and combine nanoscale building blocks
to make useful devices, e.g., a photosynthetic
reaction center with integral semiconductor
storage.
0.1 mm 100 nm
10-7 m
Ultraviolet
Self-assembled, Nature-inspired structureMany
10s of nm
0.01 mm 10 nm
Nanoworld
10-8 m
10 nm diameter
Nanotube electrode
ATP synthase
10-9 m
1 nanometer (nm)
Carbon buckyball 1 nm diameter
Soft x-ray
Carbon nanotube 1.3 nm diameter
DNA 2-1/2 nm diameter
10-10 m
0.1 nm
Quantum corral of 48 iron atoms on copper
surface positioned one at a time with an STM
tip Corral diameter 14 nm
Atoms of silicon spacing tenths of nm
Office of Basic Energy Sciences Office of
Science, U.S. DOE Version 10-07-03, pmd