The elastic component of the stress-strain curve described by the Young’s Modulus, has been reported for nanowires, however the modulus depends very strongly on the microstructure. Thus a complete description of the modulus dependence on diameter is lacking. Analytically, continuum mechanics has been applied to estimate the dependence of modulus on diameter: formula_3 in tension, where formula_4 is the bulk modulus, formula_5 is the thickness of a shell layer in which the modulus is surface dependent and varies from the bulk, formula_6 is the surface modulus, and formula_7 is the diameter. This equation implies that the modulus increases as the diameter decreases. However, various computational methods such as molecular dynamics have predicted that modulus should decrease as diameter decreases.