Fastest stopwatch in the world -

ABC - Australia ^ | February 27, 2004

[UnklGene]

Fastest stopwatch in the world -

Friday, 27 February 2004

Imagine a stopwatch that can measure a millionth of a millionth of a millionth, of a second (Image: Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development) A new ultrafast stopwatch can now measure the speed of atomic processes down to the smallest fraction of a second yet.

Austro-Hungarian physicist Professor Ferenc Krausz of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics near Munich, Germany and colleagues report their research in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

Krausz describes the device as "the fastest stopwatch in the world", capable of measuring the movement of atomic particles in time units of under a 100th of an attosecond - the name given to a quintillionth, or a millionth of a millionth of a millionth, of a second.

"This time is to a second what a minute is to the age of the universe," Krausz said.

Whereas modern microscopes allow scientists to look at atoms at rest, this device allows them to record changes in atomic structure that happen so fast that they could not be documented before.

"Our aim is to trace the movement of electrons inside atoms in real time. We need very short bursts of time to take shots of attoseconds," he told Agençe France-Presse.

"This is just like taking pictures with an ordinary camera of something happening in split seconds and then put them next to each other to see the movement. We are trying to reconstruct what happens in atoms."

He said the device, developed by a team of Austrian and German scientists, works by flashing the shortest X-ray pulses yet developed in the world onto electrons, propelling them out of their atomic binding.

Deeper knowledge of what happens at this level, can help scientists to control chemical reactions and to synthesise new materials, he said.

[martin_fierro]

a millionth of a millionth of a millionth, of a second

Otherwise known as a New York Minute. <|:)~

[perfect stranger]

"Whereas modern microscopes allow scientists to look at atoms at rest, this device allows them to record changes in atomic structure that happen so fast that they could not be documented before."

With structures so small the mere fact of observation changes the outcome of the observed events according to Quantum Physics.

[dwilli]

Another statement by scientists that cannot be contradicted, only accepted by the rest of the world.

I read the other day that astronomers have found a light
100 million light years away. Might it be true or untrue?

Who can argue?

[miltonim]

Wow!

[non-anonymous]

Another statement by scientists that cannot be contradicted, only accepted by the rest of the world.

Huh?

[dwilli]

They make the wild statement on the accuracy of this time measuring device. Do you accept that at face value?

Do you think that scientists sometime make wild unfounded statements that they know cannot be proven or disproven?

What is the standard they measured this time measuring device against other than mathmatics?

[Psycho_Bunny]

a millionth of a millionth of a millionth, of a second

Hm....seems like I've dated this watch.

[Xenalyte]

Fastest stopwatch in the world

Call me reactionary, but I don't want a fast stopwatch. I want one that counts one second per one second. Faster than that, it gets confusing.

[Straight Vermonter]

Thats the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

[Erasmus]

A half an attosecond is about how long it takes light to traverse the diameter of an average atom.

[JerseyHighlander]

IF you don't know how long 0.00000000916261377 vibrations of a Caesium 133 atom, I'm not telling you.

[Glenn]

I agree with Mel on this one. Please go see the movie.

[White Eagle]

You mean somebody left that light on anyway? I told the kids this would cost me money.

[yankeedame]

LOL!!

[Cacique]

Austro-Hungarian ?

I thought the empire was dead.

[UnklGene]

Austro-Hungarian ?
I thought the empire was dead.

They're still cranking out the 1780 Maria Theresa Silver Coin!

[laredo44]

a millionth of a millionth of a millionth, of a second

Otherwise known as a New York Minute. <|:)~

Let's see, the actual definition of a New York Minute is the amount of time between when the light turns green and the driver behind you honks. Yep, you're correct.

[rmlew]

Ddi he present a copy to the Hapsburgs?

[Clemenza]

On my great-grandfather's immigration papers, it states Austria-Hungary as country of origin. He never called himself an "Austria-Hungarian" ever in his life, however.