Home » Dictionary » femtosecond

femtosecond

femtosecond n. 10 to the -15th power or 0.000000000000001 second, equalling a quadrillionth of a second or 0.3 light microns. Editorial Note: Commonly used in measurement of light in laser or light-related technologies. Etymological Note: Danish or Norwegian femt, from femten “fifteen” + -o. Femto was established as a standard prefix equalling 10 to the -15th power by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics in 1961. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

Navel-Gazing (episode #1549)

In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...

Behead vs. Decapitate, Be- vs. De-

Carl in Newport Beach, California, wonders why the prefix be- functions so differently in the words behead and befriend. Also, why do the words decapitated and beheaded have different prefixes? And what the be-doing there in bemoan and belabor? Like...

Recent posts