A nanometer is a millionth of a millimeter or a billionth of a meter. This is roughly ten times the size of an individual atom. There are as many nanometers in an inch as there are inches in 400 miles. In other words, the difference in size between a nanometer and a person is the same proportion as the difference between a person and the orbit of the moon.

DNA, our genetic material, is in the 2.5 nanometer range, while red blood cells are about 2,500 nanometers. Human hair is about .1 millimeter or a hundred thousand nanometers thick. The head of a pin is 2 millimeters.

One current difficulty in nanotechnology research is the dearth of tools small enough to manipulate the matter. However, some tools are being built, such as this micro robot (below) with a gripper for 100 nanometer objects. An electron beam activates the gripper and can be precisely focused down to tenths of a nanometer and the beam can be rapidly moved to an exact location to activate the device. Look at the relative size descriptions above to get an idea of how small this is.

Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary field that brings together areas such as engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology into a new realm of research activity at the atomic, molecular or macromolecular level to create new and improved structures, devices and systems, ranging from more effective water filtration to better targeted cancer treatments. 

Dendrimer is a synthetic, three-dimensional macromolecule formed using a nanoscale fabrication process. A dendrimer is built up from a monomer, with new branches added in steps until a tree-like structure is created. A dendrimer is technically a polymer, which is formed by a chemical reaction in which two or more molecules, or monomers, combine to form larger molecules, or polymers.

Nanomedicine may be defined as the monitoring, repair, construction and control of human biological systems at the molecular level, using engineered nanodevices and nanostructures.

Tesla - a large measuring unit of magnetic strength.

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