Cutting it Down to Nano Outreach Activity
A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (10-9 meters). That's a really tiny measurement, but it’s hard to imagine just how small it is. A nanometer isn’t just tiny in the way that a grain of sand or a speck of dust is tiny – it’s thousands of times smaller than that.
This activity helps with understanding how unbelievably small the nanoscale is. Participants are invited to try to cut a piece of paper in half until the piece of paper is just a nanometer wide, or until they can't cut it anymore. A visual representation of the exponential decrease in the paper's size is used to reinforce the idea that the nanoscale is much, much smaller than even the smallest visible objects.
Materials
- Cutting it Down to Nano program guide
- Cutting it Down to Nano worksheet
- Scissors
- Tape
- A strip of paper (dimensions 150mm x 5mm)
- Pen or pencil
- Ruler
- Calculator
Training Videos
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