THE POWER OF NANO
Created by Carrie Persing
MathScience Innovation Center
2008
Using Student Responders
To respond to a
question:
Wait for polling
to be open.
Select your
response.
Look at your $10,000. How many one
thousand dollar bills would it take to
make $10,000?
1. 10
2. 1,000
71%
3. 100
4. 50
24%
50
00
00
10
0%
5%
How many hundred dollar bills would it take
to make $10,000?
1. 10
70%
2. 100
3. 1,000
4. 5,000
20%
10%
00
50
00
10
0
10
10
0%
How many ten dollar bills would it take to
make $10,000?
1. 10
95%
2. 500
3. 1,000
4. 5,000
00
50
00
0%
10
0
5%
50
10
0%
How many one dollar bills would it take to
make $10,000?
1. 500
100%
2. 1,000
3. 1,100
4. 10,000
0
00
10
00
0%
11
00
0%
10
50
0
0%
Let’s make it a little harder! How many
dimes would it take to make $10,000?
1. 1,000,000
65%
2. 10,000
3. 100,000
4. 10
30%
00
00
10
10
0%
0
00
10
10
00
00
0
5%
Here is the ultimate question! How many
pennies would it take to make $10,000?
63%
5,000
2. 10,000
3. 1,000,000
4. 1,000,000,000
1.
37%
0
00
00
0
10
00
00
0
00
10
00
0
0%
10
50
00
0%
Look at what you recorded. Do you see a
pattern?
Currency
# needed
$1,000
10
$100
100
$10
1,000
$1
10,000
$0.10
100,000
$0.01
1,000,000
Power of
Ten
Which system of measurement
uses powers of ten?
The metric system
THE METRIC SYSTEM
METER (m):
*About the width of a doorway.
CENTIMETER (cm):
*About the width of a paperclip.
MILLIMETER (mm):
*About the thickness of a dime.
How Small Is Small
We are going to try an experiment to see
how small we can make a strip of paper.
Each student will need the following
materials:
Strip of paper
Recording sheet
Ruler
Pair of scissors
How Small Is Small
Directions
Measure the length of the strip and record
on sheet.
Fold the strip in half and cut it in the
middle.
Measure new strip and record.
Repeat the above steps until you can no
longer make any more folds.
5 minutes
Nano What?
There are more nanometers in
the length of your hand than
there are cars in the United
States!!!
1 Meter is…
Meter
dm cm mm
µ
nm
The metric system is a base ten system
so each unit is ten times larger or
smaller than the unit before it.
Let’s Convert
How many centimeters are in a meter?
* 100 or 102
How many millimeters are in a meter?
* 1,000 or 103
How many micrometers are in a meter?
* 1,000,000 or 106
How many nanometers are in a meter
* 1,000,000,000 or 109
How many millimeters are in
a meter?
1. 100
75%
2. 1,000
3. 10,000
4. 10
13%
10
0
00
10
00
6%
10
10
0
6%
How many nanometers are in
one meter?
1. 10,000
55%
2. 100
3. 1,000,000
25%
15%
4. 1,000,000,000
0
00
00
0
10
00
00
0
00
10
0
10
10
00
0
5%
Let’s try to convert using a number.
Start with 3.4 meters. Look at your metric
sheet.
How many jumps to you need to make to
get to cm?
That is how many times
you move the decimal to the right.
Don’t forget to add zeros into your valleys.
We’ll try two more together.
Meter
dm cm mm
µ
nm
24m. Is _________________ mm.
5.6m. Is _________________ nm.
A Hummer H1 is about 5 meters in
length. How many millimeters is that?
1. 50
2. 500
3. 5,000
44%
4. 5,000,000 38%
13%
50
00
00
0
00
50
0
50
50
6%
The average height of a female giraffe
is 4 meters. How many nanometers tall
is that?
74%
1. 400
2. 4,000,000
3. 4,000
21%
4. 4,000,000,000
0
00
00
00
0
40
40
40
00
00
0
0
40
00
5%
0%
You’re How Tall?
Does anyone know who
this person is and how tall
he/she is?
_________ is about ____
centimeters tall.
How many nanometers tall
is he/she?
Is there another way to
write a big number?
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
229 cm = 2.29m
2.29 m = ______________ mm or 2.9 x 10
2.29 m = ______________ µ or 2.9 x 10
2.29 m = ________________nm or 2.9 x 10
Each group will need the following
supplies:
Measuring tape
Calculators
Pencils
Recording sheet
Directions:
Estimate how many centimeters tall you
are.
Measure height of each in group.
Record the heights on the chart.
Convert every ones’ heights to cm, mm,
µ, and nm.
Find the mean height for your group.
Answer the questions on the bottom of
activity sheet.
15 minutes
Have a wonderful
day!