Nanotechnology is the science and technology of precisely structuring and controlling matter on the nanometer scale.  Advancements in nanotechnology can be classified in three categories.

* Information Technology or Molecular Electronics

* Life/Health sciences or Nanobiotechnology

* Material Science/Nanotechnology

Nanomaterials are materials possessing grain sizes on the order of a billionth of a meter.  They manifest extremely fascinating and useful properties, which can be exploited for a variety of structured and non-structured applications.  Nano particles are generally described as a minute particle of a few nanometers in size (one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter).

All materials are comprised of grains, which in turn comprise many atoms.  These grains are usually invisible to the naked eye, depending upon their size.  A nanomaterial has the grains on the order of 1-100nm.  One nanometer comprises 10 Angstroms, and hence in one nm, there may be 3-5 atoms, depending on the atomic radii.

Nanomaterials are exceptionally strong, hard and ductile at high temperatures, wear resistant, erosion-resistant and corrosion-resistant.

The size of a nanometer is equal to:

* 10-9 meter = one ten thousand (1-10,000) the diameter of a human hair

* 10 Angstroms = portion of a meter that a golf ball is compared to the earth.