Time Measurement

The measurement of time covers an incredible range. Here are some common time spans, from the shortest to the longest:

• 1 picosecond (one-trillionth of a second) - about the shortest period of time we can currently measure accurately
• 1 nanosecond (one-billionth of a second) - 2 to 4 nanoseconds is how long a computer takes to do one software instruction
• 1 microsecond (one-millionth of a second)
• 1 millisecond (one-thousandth of a second) - how quickly a camera takes a picture
• 1 centisecond (one-hundreth of a second) - a lightning strike
• 1 decisecond (one-tenth of a second) - a blink of an eye
• 1 second - an average person's heart beats once each second
• 60 seconds - one minute, a long TV ad
• 1 minute - the longest most people can hold their breath
• 2 minutes - the longest anyone can hold their breath
• 60 minutes - an hour, about as long as a lesson
• 6 hours - the typical school day
• 8 hours - the typical amount of sleep a person needs every night
• 24 hours - one day (the amount of time for the Earth to rotate one time on its axis)
• 7 days - one week
• 40 days - about the longest a person can survive without food
• 365.24 days - one year, the amount of time it takes for the planet Earth to complete one orbit around the sun
• 10 years - one decade
• 75 years - the typical life span for a human being
• 5,000 years - the span of human history

Related pages: Time

Category: Maths

Author: Mr Kershaw