Nanometers to Meters (nm to m)

How to convert nanometers to meters

Multiply the nanometers by 10⁻⁹ — or divide by one billion:

m = nm × 0.000000001

500 nm × 10⁻⁹ = 0.0000005 m, which is easier to read in scientific notation: 5 × 10⁻⁷ m. The prefix nano- means one billionth, the same in every SI unit, so a nanosecond is a billionth of a second and a nanogram a billionth of a gram. To go the other way, multiply meters by 1,000,000,000.

Nanometers to meters chart

From nanometers to millimeters

Each step of the SI prefixes from nano to milli is a factor of 1,000: three zeros, or three places of the decimal point. Counting the zeros is where most mistakes happen, so the result also shows the value in scientific notation and in micrometers and millimeters.

Wavelengths of light

Light wavelengths are given in nanometers. NASA puts visible light at about 380 to 700 nm: violet near 380 nm, green around 530 nm and red near 700 nm. In meters, 530 nm is 5.3 × 10⁻⁷ m. Ultraviolet lies below 380 nm and infrared above 700 nm. Laser pointers are labeled by wavelength too — a common red one is 650 nm, or 6.5 × 10⁻⁷ m.

Micrometers, millimeters and inches

Between the nanometer and the millimeter sits the micrometer, or micron: 1 µm is 1,000 nm. Filters, coatings and fine particles are often rated in micrometers, and sheet thickness in thousandths of an inch — a “mil” of 0.001 in is 25.4 µm, or 25,400 nm. To turn such sizes into inches, convert to millimeters first and use mm to inches; a millimeter is 1,000,000 nm, and an inch 25,400,000 nm.

Writing very small numbers

Scientific notation keeps tiny lengths readable: move the decimal point until one digit is in front of it and count the moves. 0.00000065 m needs seven moves, so it is 6.5 × 10⁻⁷ m. Spreadsheets and calculators show the same number as 6.5E-07. For millimeters and meters in everyday sizes, see mm to meters; for very large numbers of units, the scientific calculator handles powers of ten directly.