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Question
#3892. shantaram
asks:
What is the smallest unit of time?
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JReid
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Anything shorter than a nanosecond would have to be pretty quick.
Jul 03 00, 2:42 PM
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MaggieG 5
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It is also the attention span of some of the children I teach.
Mar 13 04, 1:34 PM
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hummerh3
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Here are some other small units of time:
millisecond (thousandth of a second)
microsecond (millionth of a second)
nanosecond (billionth of a second)
picosecond (trillionth of a second)
femtosecond (quadrillionth of a second)
attosecond (quintillionth of a second)
zeptosecond (sextillionth of a second)
[NOTE: SEE link on sequoianoir's post]
[Link added Mar. 1, 2008 by Zbeckabee]
Mar 19 04, 5:11 PM
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sequoianoir
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The smallest possible unit of time is known as "Planck's time"
It is 5.4 x 10^-44 seconds.
0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000054 seconds
Hummers yoctosecond (septillionth) is ONLY a mere twenty million million million times longer!
 http://www.painreliefchat.com/arthritis-pain-relief/Orders_of_magnitude_(time)
NOTE: Planck time, the shortest physically meaningful instant of time, is approximately 5.4 x 10-44 s.
[Note & Link added Mar. 1, 2008 by Zbeckabee]
Mar 19 04, 6:01 PM
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hummerh3
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Planck's time is the time it takes for light to travel Planck's length. Actions across lengths less than this boundary have no meaning because distance/relativity stop and quantum mechanics take over at Planck's length. The smallest length (Planck's length) divided by the fastest speed (the speed of light), is the time it takes for the fastest thing to travel the shortest distance. Thus, times shorter than Planck's time do not make sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_time
[Link added Mar. 1, 2008 by Zbeckabee]
Mar 19 04, 6:14 PM
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