Time Scales Table
The range of length scales occurring in the universe is immense! Protons and Neutrons are approximately 10-16 Meters in diameter while the observable universe is estimated to be approximately 4 x 1026 Meters in diameter.
|
Phenomenon
|
Time
|
| Radioactive Decay | |
| Polonium 214 | 1.5x10-4 Seconds |
| Technetium 99 | 6 Hours |
| Iodine 131 | 8 Days |
| Strontium 90 | 30 Years |
| Plutonium 239 | 2.4x103 Years |
| Uranium 235 | 7.1x108 Years |
| Rubidium 87 | 5.0x1010 Years |
| Medicine | |
| Time that it takes a single nerve cell to fire | ~10-3 Seconds |
| Respiratory rate of a resting adult human being | 6 to 12 Seconds |
| Incubation period of the Influenza Virus | 1 to 5 Days |
| Life span of red blood cells | 100 to 120 Days |
| Astronomy | |
| Venus |
Rotation Period: 243 Earth Days Venusian Year: 224.7 Earth Days |
| Mars |
Rotation Period: 24 Hours Martian Year: 687 Earth Days |
| Jupiter |
Rotation Period: 9.8 Hours Jovian Year: 11.86 Earth Years |
| Saturn |
Rotation Period: 10.2 Hours Saturnian Year: 29.46 Earth Years |
| Uranus |
Rotation Period: 17 Hours Uranian Year: 84 Earth Years |
| Neptune |
Rotation Period: 16.11 Hours Neptunian Year: 165 Earth Years |
| Pluto |
Rotation Period: 6.39 Hours Plutonian Year: 247.7 Earth Years |
| Rotation Period of the Sun at the Equator (the Sun does not rotate as a rigid body) | 25 Earth Days |
| Time that it takes our solar system to orbit once about the center of the Milky Way Galaxy | 2.3x108 Years |