Dynamic analysis of impact of a nanoparticle on carbon nanotubes is investigated based on two degree of freedom model. The accuracy and stability of the present methods are verified by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The effect of different types of boundary condition on the maximum dynamic deflections is studied for zigzag and armchair SWCNTs with various aspect ratios (length/diameter). Besides, the influences of velocity of impactor on the dynamic deflections are studied. It is shown that the dynamic behavior on the armchair and zigzag single-walled carbon nanotubes are almost similar. Finally, by making use of the above MD simulation and theoretical results some insight has been obtained about the dynamic characteristics of the impact problems of nanobeam structures. Nonlocal Timoshenko beam models TBT2 should be employed for an accurate prediction of the dynamic deflection rather than nonlocal Euler-Bernoulli beam models EBT2 which ignores the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia that is especially significant for short beams. The results from nonlocal EBT2 and TBT2 models demonstrated good agreement with MD simulation. The EBT2 and TBT2 models also account for the relative motion between the nanoparticle and the nanobeam that is due to local indentation as can be seen in MD simulation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.