Billons to
Billionths
Presenter: Carrie Persing
6-12 Math Dept. Chair
MathScience Innovation Center
“Nanoscience and technology
will change the nature of
almost every human-made
st
object in the 21 Century.”
M.C. Roco, R.S. Williams, & P.Alvisatos, 1999
The NSF projects that 6 million
workers will be needed in the
field of nanoscience and
technology.
www.nano.gov
What is a nanometer and why is
size and scale important ?
• Nano = dwarf in Greek
• It is one billionth of a meter (1 x 10-9)
• Properties of materials change at the nano level
a. melting point
b. fluorescence
c. conductivity
d. chemical reactivity
Extremely Large vs.
Extremely Small Numbers
How many grains of salt can fit in a
gallon pitcher?
DESCRIBE A BILLION
• A million seconds is 12 days
A billion seconds is 31 years
• A million hours ago it was 1896
A billion hours ago man did not
exist.
• One red blood cell can
deliver one billion
molecules of oxygen.
• There are about 6.2 billion
people in the world.
How tall would a stack of a billion
sheets of cardstock be?
Challenge
If one story of a building is about 3
meters high how many stories
would a billion sheets of card
stock be?
Challenge
What fraction 0f 66,667 stories
would one sheet of paper be?
How many grains of salt can fit in a
gallon jug?
1 Pinch = 1,000 grains
1 Cup = 1,000,000 grains
1 Jug = 16,000,000 grains
How big would a
container have to be to
fit one billion grains?
Fox Elementary School is selling
raffle tickets so you buy one
ticket. The student tells you
that you now have a one in ten
chance of winning a prize.
A glass is filled with 95 grams of
water. If I wanted to make it a 5%
sugar solution, how much sugar
must I add?
5g .sugar
95g .water
How did I make this a 10%
solution out of water and food
coloring?
1 partfoodcoloring
9 partswater
SCENTED SOLUTIONS
Cup 1 has a 10% solution or 1/10 solution
* 1 part per ten
What would be the concentration be for Cup 2?
1/10 of 1/10 = 1/100
1% solution or
1 part per hundred
Cup
1
Color
blue
Scent
strong
Concen.
0.1
2
Light blue
strong
0.01
3
4
5
6
7
8
A Nanometer is a billionth of a
meter
Well how small is that exactly?
The earth’s continents drift at
about 1 nanometer per second
The average fingernail grows about
one nanometer per second
There are more nanometers in the
palm of your hand than there are
cars in the United States.