# Nanometers to Chains (nm to ch) Source: https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/length/nanometers-to-chains/ **1 nm = 4.9709695378987E-11 ch** One nanometer equals approximately 4.971 x 10-11 chains. A chain (20,116,800,000 nm) contains about 20.1 billion nanometers. The nanometer measures transistors; the chain measures English land. About 10 orders of magnitude separate them. ## Formula Convert Nanometers to Chains ## Conversion Table | Nanometers (nm) | Chains (ch) | |---|---| | 1000000000 nm | 0.049709695378987 ch | | 5000000000 nm | 0.24854847689493 ch | | 10000000000 nm | 0.49709695378987 ch | | 20116800000 nm | 1 ch | | 50000000000 nm | 2.4854847689493 ch | | 100000000000 nm | 4.9709695378987 ch | | 500000000000 nm | 24.854847689493 ch | ## Units ### Nanometer (nm) One billionth of a meter. Used to measure wavelengths of light, semiconductor chip features, and molecular structures. ### Chain (ch) Exactly 66 feet or 4 rods (20.1168 m). Invented by Edmund Gunter for land surveying. 80 chains make one mile. Still used in US public land surveys. ## Background A chain is about 20.1 billion nm. A 3 nm transistor is 1.49 x 10-10 chains. The silicon in transistors was once sand in fields measured by chains. From surveyed land to chip fabrication, the materials journey spans orders of magnitude. ## Good to Know Silicon comes from sand. Sand comes from land measured in chains. The silicon in your phone's 3 nm transistors was once part of a field a medieval surveyor might have measured with a chain. From chain-measured quarry to nm-fabricated chip: the same silicon, transformed across 10 orders of magnitude. ## FAQ ### How many chains is 1 nanometer? One nanometer equals approximately 4.971 x 10-11 chains. ### How many nanometers are in 1 chain? One chain contains approximately 2.012 x 1010 nm (about 20.1 billion). ### Is this conversion used? Never. Semiconductor fabrication and land surveying exist in different measurement universes. ## Non-Frequently Asked Questions ### How many transistors span a cricket pitch? A cricket pitch is 1 chain = 20.1 billion nm. At 3 nm per transistor, about 6.7 billion transistors span 1 pitch. A modern phone chip has about 15 billion transistors - enough to span more than 2 cricket pitches. Cricket and computing are now in the same order of magnitude. ### How many chains of silicon wafer have been manufactured? Global silicon wafer production is about 14,000 million square inches per year. Laid edge-to-edge, annual wafer production spans thousands of km. But each wafer contains nm-scale features. The chain measures the wafer factory's land; the nm measures what the factory makes. ### If Gunter's chain links were nanometers, how long would his chain be? Gunter's chain had 100 links. If each link were 1 nm instead of 7.92 inches, the chain would be 100 nm long - about the size of a virus. A virus-sized chain would survey very small fields. Viral agriculture is not a field of study. Yet. ## Related Articles - [Why We Measure: The Deepest Urge in Human Civilisation](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/why-we-measure) - [The Map Is Not the Territory: Why Every Measurement Is Wrong](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/the-map-is-not-the-territory) - [Zero: The Most Dangerous Number in Measurement](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/zero-the-most-dangerous-number-in-measurement) - [The Body as a Ruler: Every Measurement Unit That Came From Us](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/the-body-as-a-ruler) - [The Speed of Everything: How We Measure From Glaciers to Light](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/the-speed-of-everything) - [15 Obscure Measurement Units You've Never Heard Of (But Still Need)](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/obscure-measurement-units-guide) - [When Measurements Go Wrong - Disasters, Blunders and Happy Accidents](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/when-measurements-go-wrong) - [The Surprising Stories Behind Everyday Units of Measurement](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/stories-behind-measurement-units) - [Metric vs. Imperial - The Complete Guide to the World's Two Measurement Systems](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/metric-vs-imperial-complete-guide) - [Length & Distance Conversion Guide - Meters, Feet, Miles & Kilometers](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/length-and-distance-guide) ## See Also - [Chains to Nanometers](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/length/chains-to-nanometers/)