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Why are nanoparticles so useful? - OCR 21st CenturyNanoparticles

Nanoparticles are 1 nm to 100 nm in size. They have very large surface area to volume ratios. The properties of nanoparticulate substances are different from those of the same substance in bulk.

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Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles are structures, 1 to 100 nanometres (nm) in size, that usually contain only a few hundred . This means that nanoparticles are larger than atoms and simple .

Learn more on nanoparticles in this podcast.

Comparing the size of nanoparticles

Nanometres

The size of nanoparticles can be compared easily using the nanometre scale. For example:

  • an 8 nm nanoparticle is larger than a 4 nm nanoparticle
  • an 8 nm nanoparticle is larger than a single atom with a diameter of 1 nm

Standard form

The size of nanoparticles and other atoms and molecules can be compared using standard form.

The sizes get smaller going down this table:

UnitDecimal Standard form
1 cm0.01 m1 脳 10-2 m
1 mm0.001 m1 脳 10-3 m
1 渭m0.000,001 m1 脳 10-6 m
1 nm0.000,000,001 m1 脳 10-9 m
Unit1 cm
Decimal0.01 m
Standard form1 脳 10-2 m
Unit1 mm
Decimal0.001 m
Standard form1 脳 10-3 m
Unit1 渭m
Decimal0.000,001 m
Standard form1 脳 10-6 m
Unit1 nm
Decimal0.000,000,001 m
Standard form1 脳 10-9 m

Question

List these numbers in order of size, starting with the smallest.

ABCD
5 脳 10-95 脳 10-85 脳 10-107 脳 10-9
A5 脳 10-9
B5 脳 10-8
C5 脳 10-10
D7 脳 10-9

Question

If one carbon atom has a diameter of about 1 nm, estimate the length of a nanoparticle that is 10 carbon atoms long. Give your answer in nm and in standard form.