1 E-18 s

To compare various orders of magnitude of time units, this page lists units of time between 10⁻¹⁸ and 10⁻¹⁵ seconds (i.e. between 1 attosecond and 1 femtosecond). An attosecond is one quintillionth of a second [http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=attosecond] . To put this in perspective, one attosecond is to one second what one second is to the age of the universe [http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2008/February/28/90764.aspx] [http://steacie.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/personal/corkum/atto5_e.html] .The word attosecond originates from the Danish word for eighteen (atto) [http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/246] .

* 1 attosecond is the time it takes for light to travel the length of three hydrogen atoms. [http://www.nano-bio.ehu.es/files/ali.pdf]
* 1 attosecond (1 as) – estimated time it takes for an atomic nucleus to recoil [http://www.nano-bio.ehu.es/files/ali.pdf]
* 24 attoseconds – the time taken for an electron to travel from one side of a hydrogen atom to the other [http://www.physorg.com/news125146806.html] .
* 80 attoseconds – the shortest pulses of laser light yet created [http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn14172-fastestever-flashgun-captures-image-of-light-wave.html?feedId=online-news_rss20]
* about 100 attoseconds – record for shortest time interval measured as of February 2004 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3486160.stm]
* about 200 attoseconds – half-life of beryllium-8, maximum time available for the triple-alpha process for the synthesis of carbon and heavier elements in stars [http://www.nano-bio.ehu.es/files/ali.pdf] .
* 150 attoseconds is the time it takes for an electron to circle the nucleus of an atom. [http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2008/February/28/90764.aspx] [http://www.atto.fysik.lth.se/video/pressrelen.pdf]
* 320 attoseconds – estimated time it takes electrons to hop between atoms [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7700]

Footnotes