24: Number of microseconds (thousandths of a second) it takes for a stick of dynamite to explode after its fuse has burned down
1: Number of feet a beam of light shining through a vacuum will travel in a nanosecond (a billionth of a second)
200: Number of femtoseconds (millionths of a billionth of a second) it takes for light to interact with a retina
1: Estimated number of attoseconds (billionths of a billionth of a second) it takes for an atomic nucleus to recoil
Sources: Scientific American: A Matter of Time; wikipedia.org
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.