National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Serving Nanoscale Science, Engineering & Technology

Shrink Me

This activity focuses on measuring length, for this is the most common feature when presenting nanoscale structures or nanoscale science. Understanding size and scale is fundamental to learning about nanotechnology as size defines the nanoscale (1-100nm in one dimension). Size is often divided into scales – macro, micro, nano and atomic.  Helping students understand these “worlds” is an important part of their science knowledge and will help them to understand the relatively small size of the nanoscale.  It can be introduced into K–12 curriculum by discussing scientific measurement.