View Single Post
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 13th May 2005, 11:35 AM
MRC_Hans MRC_Hans is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1,084
MRC_Hans is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by gavinimurthy
Dear Hans

I am sure you must have heard of 'Nano Technology' ? What do you think is the meaning of Nano there?

My dictionary says

"The branch of engineering that deals with things smaller than 100 nanometers (especially with the manipulation of individual molecules)"

Murthy
Exactly. And Dana Ullman's reply also confirms my suspicion: The Nano part may simply be a "smart" word, one to give associations to well-known scientific front-line work.

"Nano" denotes a fraction (1/1000,000,000), so it would be appropriate for denoting a homeopathic dilution, in this case 9X. Since each of these fraction names covers three orders of magnitude, "Nano" could be used to cover, say, 10^-7 - 10^-10 (that would be normal convention). However, for still lower fractions, the following would be used:

pico = 10^-12 (6C, 12X)
femto = 10^-15 (~7C, 15X)
atto = 10^-18 (9C, 18X)
zepto = 10^-21 (~10C, 21X)
yocto = 10^-24 (12C, 24X)

Before you all accuse me of nitpicking, allow me to point out that these ranges only just reach the fateful Avogadro limit, which leads me to my next question:

Can this be taken as an indication that your "Nano medicine" term only applies to homeopathic remedies above the Avogadro limit?

Hans
__________________
<i>You have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.</i>
Reply With Quote