Instant
Instant or instantaneous is an infinitely small moment in time ; a point in time whose occurrence is immediate.
The continuity of time and its infinite divisibility were first addressed by Aristotle in his work Physics through the paradoxes of multiplicity of Zeno . The philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell tried to define the exact nature of instant over two thousand years later. In physics, the Planck time was suggested as the lower limit ; it is the time that light needs to cover a distance of one Planck length . The Planck time is theoretically the smallest measurable unit of time that is and will be possible, it is about 10 −43 seconds. Within the framework of the laws of physics that are known today , it is not possible to measure or determine time periods that are shorter than the Planck time. With today's technology it is therefore impossible to determine whether an action exists that occurs “instantly” or whether the time interval is too small to measure.
As of November 2016, the shortest measured interval is in the range of 850 zeptoseconds (850 * 10 −21 seconds).
Individual evidence
- ^ William H. Newton-Smith: The structure of time . Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, ISBN 978-0-7102-0389-2 , pp. 129 .
- ↑ Big Bang models back to Planck time. In: gsu.edu. hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu, accessed February 3, 2017 .
- ↑ Planck Time | COSMOS. In: edu.au. astronomy.swin.edu.au, accessed on February 3, 2017 .
- ^ Fiona MacDonald: Scientists Have Measured the Smallest Fragment of Time Ever . In: ScienceAlert . ( sciencealert.com [accessed February 3, 2017]).