Elasticity of macroscopic isotropic media applied to nano--cantilevers

Abstract

We analyze recently measured data for the mechanical deflection of Chromium nano--cantilevers. We show that the deflection curves exhibit a scaling behavior when applying properly chosen coordinates. Moreover, the deflection curves are well described by Euler's theory for elastic, macroscopic rods made of homogenous material. Apart from the conceptual insight, this also yields a precise method to deduce the Young's modulus of these nano--cantilevers. It is found to be considerably smaller than that of a macroscopic Chromium rod.