Converting Nanometers to Meters

This example problem demonstrates how to convert nanometers to meters.

Problem:

The most common wavelength of the red light from a helium-neon laser is 632.1 nanometers. What is the wavelength in meters?

Solution:

1 meter = 10⁹ nanometers

Set up the conversion so the desired unit will be cancelled out. In this case, we want m to be the remaining unit.

distance in m = (distance in nm) x (1 m/10⁹ nm)
Note: 1/10⁹ = 10^-9
distance in m = (632.1 x 10^-9) m
distance in m = 6.321 x 10^-7 m

Answer:

632.1 nanometers is equal to 6.321 x 10^-7 meters.