What is a zeptosecond?

In our everyday lives, we are used to years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds as a measure of time. We don’t go for shorter intervals of time, nor do most of us have any need for it either. Scientists, however, dive into such realms as it offers them a better way for the measurements they are making.

Trillionth of a billionth of a second

A zeptosecond is one such measure of time. A trillionth of a billionth of a second, a zeptosecond is 0.000000000000000000001 second (that is a decimal point followed by 20 zeroes and then a 1). Scientists first used zeptoseconds in 2016 when they used lasers to measure time in increments down to 850 zeptoseconds.

Shortest slice of time recorded

In 2020, scientists at Goethe University, Germany, went further and measured what is now seen as the shortest time span ever recorded successfully. They calculated that the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule is 247 zeptoseconds.

For making such a measurement, a single photon, or particle of light, was made to knock two electrons out of the hydrogen molecule. This happens a bit like how a stone thrown at pace skips over the top of still water as the photon first bounces out one electron from the molecule and then the other.

Knowing the spatial orientation of the hydrogen molecule and by recording the wave pattern created using a very sensitive tool, the scientists were able to determine that 247 zeptoseconds was the time that had elapsed.

While zeptoseconds is practically useless for most of us in our daily lives, scientists believe that information like this (shortest time span) will be useful in superconductivity and quantum computing.

 

Picture Credit : Google

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