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 0.000000001. 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 meter (3.3 ft) wide.^[1]
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).

SI prefixes
v
t
e
Prefix		Base 10	Decimal	Adoption ^{[nb 1]}
Name	Symbol	Base 10	Decimal	Adoption ^{[nb 1]}
quetta	Q	10³⁰	1000000000000000000000000000000	2022^[2]
ronna	R	10²⁷	1000000000000000000000000000	2022^[2]
yotta	Y	10²⁴	1000000000000000000000000	1991
zetta	Z	10²¹	1000000000000000000000	1991
exa	E	10¹⁸	1000000000000000000	1975^[3]
peta	P	10¹⁵	1000000000000000	1975^[3]
tera	T	10¹²	1000000000000	1960
giga	G	10⁹	1000000000	1960
mega	M	10⁶	1000000	1873
kilo	k	10³	1000	1795
hecto	h	10²	100
deca	da	10¹	10
—	—	10⁰	1	—
deci	d	10⁻¹	0.1	1795
centi	c	10⁻²	0.01
milli	m	10⁻³	0.001
micro	μ	10⁻⁶	0.000001	1873
nano	n	10⁻⁹	0.000000001	1960
pico	p	10⁻¹²	0.000000000001	1960
femto	f	10⁻¹⁵	0.000000000000001	1964
atto	a	10⁻¹⁸	0.000000000000000001	1964
zepto	z	10⁻²¹	0.000000000000000000001	1991
yocto	y	10⁻²⁴	0.000000000000000000000001	1991
ronto	r	10⁻²⁷	0.000000000000000000000000001	2022^[2]
quecto	q	10⁻³⁰	0.000000000000000000000000000001	2022^[2]
Notes ^ Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. The introduction of the CGS system was in 1873.

^ "Size of the Nanoscale". National Nanotechnology Initiative. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
^ ^a ^b "On the extension of the range of SI prefixes". 18 November 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
^ "Metric (SI) Prefixes". NIST.

[2] Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. The introduction of the CGS system was in 1873.

[1] "Size of the Nanoscale". National Nanotechnology Initiative. Retrieved 2020-05-14.

[newUnitAdoption-3] "On the extension of the range of SI prefixes". 18 November 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.

[4] "Metric (SI) Prefixes". NIST.

[1]

[nb 1]

[2]

[3]