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An '''attosecond''' ('''as''') is a very short period of [[time]].<ref>Website of the BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter3/prefixes.html {{WebCite|url=http://www.webcitation.org/62QUYngaK|date =2011-10-14}}</ref> It is equal to one quintillionth of a [[second]] (or 0.000000000000000001 seconds). It can also be written as '''10<sup>-18</sup> seconds'''. Because it can be hard to think about how short this period of time is, on this page is a list of descriptions of periods of time longer than 1 [[attosecond]], but shorter than one [[femtosecond]] (which is 10<sup>-15</sup> seconds). This should help when thinking about periods of time that have different [[order of magnitude|orders of magnitude]].
* 1 attosecond: It takes 1 attosecond for light to travel the length of three [[hydrogen|hydrogen atoms]].
* 1 attosecond: It takes 1 attosecond for an [[atomic nucleus]] to react when another particle hits it.
* 150 attoseconds: It takes 150 attoseconds for an [[electron]] to circle the nucleus of an [[atom]].
* 320 attoseconds: It takes about 300 attoseconds for an [[electron]] to jump from one atom to another.
== Related pages ==
* [[1 E-25 s|Click this link for times shorter than one attosecond.]]
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
{{Ordersofmagnitudeseconds}}
[[Category:Units of time]]
[[Category:Orders of magnitude]]
{{math-stub}}
* 1 attosecond: It takes 1 attosecond for light to travel the length of three [[hydrogen|hydrogen atoms]].
* 1 attosecond: It takes 1 attosecond for an [[atomic nucleus]] to react when another particle hits it.
* 150 attoseconds: It takes 150 attoseconds for an [[electron]] to circle the nucleus of an [[atom]].
* 320 attoseconds: It takes about 300 attoseconds for an [[electron]] to jump from one atom to another.
== Related pages ==
* [[1 E-25 s|Click this link for times shorter than one attosecond.]]
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
{{Ordersofmagnitudeseconds}}
[[Category:Units of time]]
[[Category:Orders of magnitude]]
{{math-stub}}