To explain Nanotechnology we have to start at the size we are talking about.
We all know by now that Nano is a Greek word and means dwarf. It does not mean we are dealing with dwarfs but it became a common word for everything which is smaller than 1 Micron or 1 millions of a millimeter. 1 Micron is 1000 Nanometer.
A human hair is about 50,000 - 100,000 nanometers across.
1 Nanometer is about 10 - 15 atoms next to each other.
If a nanometer were somehow magnified to appear as long as the nose on your face, then a red blood cell would appear the size of the Empire State Building, a human hair would be about 20 kilometers wide, one of your fingers would span the continental United States, and a normal person would be about as tall as six or seven planet Earths piled atop one another.
Pretty small things in fact.
Nature made nano materials a long time before mankind started making them on purpose. There are lots of natural sources of nano materials. They are all around us. Enzymes and viruses are all in the nanosphere.
There are natural and anthropogenic processes that release nanoparticles into the atmosphere. Natural sources include volcanic activity, natural fires, chemical reactions in the atmosphere, or sea spray leading to salt particles.
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