NanoInnovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know

1Quick – Name Something “Nano”

Quick – name something “nano.”

Name something that occurs at the nanoscale – a structure or process that we measure in nanometers. One nanometer is a billionth of a meter. Nanoscale refers to 100 nm or less. So name something under 100 nm.

As a manager, you should be able to name at least one or two things that are nanoscale. Can you do it? How quickly?

Are you still thinking? Do you have it? Are you sure that's a nanoscale example?

Okay. Let's make it easy. Name something nano that occurs naturally in the human body.

What did you say? A human hair? A blood cell?

Wrong.

A human hair is 50 000–80 000 nm thick. A red blood cell is about 2000–5000 nm. A white blood cell is about 10 000 nm in diameter. The period at the end of this sentence may contain 1 000 000 nm of ink.

Think smaller. Much smaller.

Can you name one commercial product that uses nanotechnology? This could be something that contains nanosized particles or nanomaterials. Here's a hint: You can find a nanotechnology product in almost any gift shop on the beaches of Cancun, Florida, California, or the French Riviera.

What about man-made nanostructures (Figure 1.1)? Almost any nanotechnology article talks about carbon nanotubes, the popular building blocks of nanotechnology. Can you name one product that uses carbon nanotubes?

Figure 1.1 Carbon nanotubes that are 1 or 2 nm in diameter ...