About nanotechnology from the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield nanotechnology education portfolio.

Size is important!

The problem of being a lightweight

As the mass of an object falls, so does its momentum (p), which is the product of mass and velocity:

p = mv

The momentum of an object determines how easy it is to move it, or change its direction of movement if it is already in motion. The smaller the object, the easier it is to move.

Particles smaller than one micrometre are light enough to feel the impacts of fast molecules in the fluid (air or water) surrounding them. These impacts cause the object to stagger about, and this drunken movement is called Brownian motion.Link to more information..

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