Femtosecond

A femtosecond is the SI unit of time equal to 10^-15 of a second. That is one quadrillionth, or one billionth of one millionth of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second, what a second is to about 420 million years. To give another example, one femtosecond compared to one second is like the diameter of a human hair relative to the distance between the earth and moon.

The word femtosecond is formed by the SI prefix femto and the SI unit second. Its symbol is fs.

A femtosecond is equal to 1000 attoseconds, or 1/1000 picosecond. Because the next higher SI unit is 1000 times larger, times of 10^-14 and 10^-13 seconds are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of femtoseconds.

A few femtoseconds is the typical time step for a molecular dynamics simulation
The waves of visible light oscillate with a period (reciprocal frequency) of about 1 femtosecond. The precise period depends on the energy of the photons, which determines their color. (See wave-particle duality) This time can be calculated by dividing the wavelength of the light by the speed of light (approximately 3 x 10⁸ m/s) to determine the time required for light to travel that distance.
1.3 femtoseconds (fs) – cycle time for 390 nanometre light, at the transition between violet visible light and ultraviolet
2.57 femtoseconds – cycle time for 770 nanometre light, at the transition between red visible light and near-infrared
200 femtoseconds – the swiftest chemical reactions, such as the reaction of pigments in an eye to light
300 femtoseconds – the duration of a vibration of the atoms in an iodine molecule

See also

Femtochemistry
Femtosecond pulse shaping

Translation of "Femtosecond"

Arabic: فيمتو ثانية, Asturian: Femtosegundu, German: Sekunde#Abgeleitete Maßeinheiten, Spanish: Femtosegundo, Basque: Femtosegundo, French: 1 E-15 s, Indonesian: 1 E-15 s, Italian: Femtosecondo, Latvian: Femtosekunde, Dutch: Femtoseconde, Polish: Femtosekunda, Portuguese: Femtossegundo, Simple English: 1 E-15 s, Chinese: 飞秒.