HUMOR: Odd time units...

From: Michael S. Lorrey (mike@datamann.com)
Date: Wed May 10 2000 - 07:30:23 MDT


Here's some funny trivia about som units of time you might not be aware of:

>From Dr. Joe Burns' HTML Goodies Express newsletter:

And Remember: Have you every heard of a "Jiffy"? Ever waited
"Two shakes of a lamb's tail"? Did you know they are true
lengths of time? Apparently some mathematicians had a sense
of humor and used the titles to represent some calculations.

Jiffy: 3.3357 times 10 raised to the -11 (3.3357x10^-11)
seconds. It's named for the length of time it takes light to
travel a centimeter in a vacuum.

Shakes of a lamb's tail: This one was named during the
"Manhattan Project". One shake = 1x10^-8 sec. That's the
time is took for an imploding shell of uranium to reach the
center of the sphere.

That's fast, huh?
Anyone else have some funny units to share?

Mike Lorrey



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