Unit of time

A unit of time or midst unit is any particular time interval, used as a standard way of measuring or expressing duration. The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) and by extension most of the Western world, is the second, defined as about 9 billion oscillations of the caesium atom.

Table showing quantitative relationships between common units of time

Note: The light-year is not a unit of time, but a unit of length of about 9.5 petametres (9 454 254 955 488 kilometers).

List

Units of time
Unit Length, Duration and Size Notes
Planck time5.39×10−44 sThe amount of time light takes to travel one Planck length.
yoctosecond10−24 sOne septillionth of a second.
jiffy (physics)3×10−24 sThe amount of time light takes to travel one fermi (about the size of a nucleon) in a vacuum.
zeptosecond10−21 sOne sextillionth of a second. Time measurement scale of the NIST strontium atomic clock. Smallest fragment of time currently measurable is 247 zeptoseconds.[1]
attosecond10−18 sOne quintillionth of a second.
femtosecond10−15 sOne quadrillionth of a second. Pulse time on fastest lasers.
svedberg10−13 sTime unit used for sedimentation rates (usually of proteins).
picosecond10−12 sOne trillionth of a second.
nanosecond10−9 sOne billionth of a second. Time for molecules to fluoresce.
shake10−8 s10 nanoseconds, also a casual term for a short period of time.
microsecond10−6 sOne millionth of a second. Symbol is µs
centimillisecond10−5 sOne hundred thousandth of a second or one hundredth of a millisecond.
decimillisecond10−4 sOne ten-thousandth of a second or one tenth of a millisecond.
millisecond10−3 sOne thousandth of a second. Shortest time unit used on stopwatches.
centisecond10−2 sOne hundredth of a second.
jiffy (electronics)1/60 s or 1/50 sUsed to measure the time between alternating power cycles. Also a casual term for a short period of time.
decisecond10−1 sOne tenth of a second.
quadrisecond / semisemisecond0.25 sOne quarter of a second.
semisecond / half second0.5 sOne half of a second.
second1 sSI Base unit.
decasecond10 s
half a minute30 sIt’s known by math.
minute60 s
milliday1/1000 dAlso marketed as a ".beat" by the Swatch corporation; Milliday is a more accurate name.
moment1/40 solar hour (90 s on average)Medieval unit of time used by astronomers to compute astronomical movements, length varies with the season.[2]
hectosecond100 s1 minute and 40 seconds
ke864 s14 minutes and 24 seconds
kilosecond1000 s16 minutes and 40 seconds
half an hour30 minIt’s known by math.
hour60 min
decakilosecond104 sTen thousand seconds or ten kiloseconds.
Half an day12 h Its known by math.
day24 hLongest unit used on stopwatches and countdowns.
hectokilosecond105 sOne hundred thousand seconds or one hundred kiloseconds.
week7 dAlso called "sennight".
megasecond106 s277.777778333333 hours or about 1 week and 4.6 days.
fortnight2 weeks14 days
lunar month27 d 4 h 48 min  29 d 12 hVarious definitions of lunar month exist.
month28-31 daysOccasionally calculated as 30 days.
quarter and season3 mo
quadrimester 4 mo
semester18 weeksA division of the academic year.[3] Literally "six months", also used in this sense.
half year6 mo
lunar year354.37 days
year12 mo365 or 366 d
common year365 d52 weeks and 1 day.
tropical year365 d 5 h 48 min 45.216 s[4]Average.
Gregorian year365 d 5 h 49 min 12 sAverage.
sidereal year365 d 6 h 9 min 9.7635456 s
leap year366 d52 weeks and 2 d
biennium2 yr
triennium3 yr
quadrennium4 yr
olympiad4 yr
lustrum5 yr
decade10 yr
indiction15 yr
gigasecond109 s16,666,666.6667 minutes or about 31.7 years.
jubilee50 yr
century100 yr
millennium1000 yrAlso called "kiloannum".
terasecond1012 sAbout 31,709 years.
megaannum106 yrAlso called "Megayear." 1,000 millennia (plural of millennium), or 1 million years.
petasecond1015 sAbout 31,709,791 years.
galactic year2.3×108 yrThe amount of time it takes the Solar System to orbit the center of the Milky Way Galaxy one time. Around 230,000,000 years.
cosmological decadevaries10 times the length of the previous
cosmological decade, with CÐ 1 beginning
either 10 seconds or 10 years after the
Big Bang, depending on the definition.
gigaannum109 yrAlso refers to an indefinite period of time, otherwise is 1,000,000,000 years.
exasecond1018 sAbout 31,709,791,983 years.
zettasecond1021 sAbout 31,709,791,983,764 years.
yottasecond1024 sAbout 31,709,791,983,764,584 years.

| - | The Age Of The Universe || 13700000000 yr || Alternatively, it’s roughly 4.35 yottaseconds |}

References

  1. "Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured". Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  2. Milham, Willis I. (1945). Time and Timekeepers. New York: MacMillan. p. 190. ISBN 0-7808-0008-7.
  3. "Semester". Webster's Dictionary. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  4. McCarthy, Dennis D.; Seidelmann, P. Kenneth (2009). Time: from Earth rotation to atomic physics. Wiley-VCH. p. 18. ISBN 3-527-40780-4., Extract of page 18
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