Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured

[Admin]

Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever, the time it takes for a particle of light to cross a hydrogen molecule.

Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured : Read more

 

[rod]

The space.com article states "That time? Two hundred and forty-seven zeptoseconds, with some wiggle room depending on the distance between the hydrogen atoms within the molecule at the precise moment the photon winged by. The measurement is essentially capturing the speed of light within the molecule. "We observed for the first time that the electron shell in a molecule does not react to light everywhere at the same time," Dörner said in the statement. "The time delay occurs because information within the molecule only spreads at the speed of light."

zeptoseconds is fast 247 of these is 2.47E-19 second. The experiment uses Special Relativity or Einstein Synchrony Convention (ESC). There is the Anisotropic Synchrony Convention (ASC) used by some today too

 

[rod]

FYI. ASC allows one-way speed of light to be very different than ESC c velocity. Since the BB event, ~ 4.35E+17 seconds elapsed. ESC shows light travels ~ 1.3E+28 cm at c where t ~ 4.35E+17. ASC allows light to travel that same distance <1 second, one-way speed of c

 

[David-J-Franks]

It may help to put this measurement in perspective by changing the units to attoseconds ie 10^-18 seconds. The time now becomes .247 attoseconds to cross the molecule of hydrogen. This compares with one tick on the worlds best atomic clock, which is 10^-19 seconds or .1 attoseconds! So, it takes 2.47 ticks to cross the molecule of hydrogen. Phew! not so fast after all

And from;

https://www.livescience.com/what-are-smallest-ticks-of-time.html#:~:text=Given that our best atomic,19 in the journal Physical

"Given that our best atomic clocks agree with one another and can measure ticks as small as 10^(minus19) seconds, or a tenth of a billionth of a billionth of a second"

A truly astonishing measurement.