Nanoscopic scale

In physics and chemistry, the nanoscopic scale refers to the length scale at which one can no longer discuss the properties of a material or phenomenon without having to discuss the behavior of individual atoms. For solids and liquids this is typically less than a few to ten nanometres. Hence, the nanoscopic scale is roughly speaking a lower bound to the mesoscopic scale for most solids.

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For practical purposes, the nanoscopic scale is the size at which it becomes reasonable to talk about individual atoms and average concepts such as density and temperature no longer hold.

For technical purposes, the nanoscopic scale is the size at which the expected fluctuations of the averaged properties due to the motion and behavior of individual particles can no longer be reduced to below some desirable threshold (often a few percent), and must be rigorously established within the context of any particular problem.