Attosecond: Information from Answers.com

An attosecond is an SI unit of time equal to 10^-18 of a second. (one quintillionth of a second).^[1]

The word "attosecond" is formed by the prefix atto and the unit second. Atto- was made from the Danish word for eighteen (atten).^[2] Its symbol is as.

In ratio, one attosecond is to one second what one second is to the age of the universe.^[3]^[4]

Because the next higher SI unit for time is the femtosecond (10⁻¹⁵ seconds), durations of 10^-17 s and 10^-16 s will typically be expressed as tens or hundreds of attoseconds:

1 attosecond – the time it takes for light to travel the length of three hydrogen atoms.^[5]
1 attosecond – estimated time it takes for an atomic nucleus to recoil.^[5]
24 attoseconds – the time taken for an electron to travel from one side of a hydrogen atom to the other.^[6]
80 attoseconds – the shortest pulses of laser light yet created.^[7]
100 attoseconds (approximately) – record for shortest time interval measured as of February 2004.^[8]
200 attoseconds (approximately) – half-life of beryllium-8, maximum time available for the triple-alpha process for the synthesis of carbon and heavier elements in stars.^[5]
320 attoseconds – estimated time it takes electrons to hop between atoms.^[9]

References

v • d • e Orders of magnitude (time), by powers of seconds

Negative powers	10⁻⁴⁴ s \| ... \| 10⁻²⁴ s ... 10⁻¹⁹ s \| 10⁻¹⁸ s ... 10⁻¹⁶ s \| 10⁻¹⁵ s ... 10⁻¹³ s \| 10⁻¹² s ... 10⁻¹⁰ s \| 10⁻⁹ s \| 10⁻⁸ s \| 10⁻⁷ s \| 10⁻⁶ s \| 10⁻⁵ s \| 10⁻⁴ s \| 10⁻³ s \| 10⁻² s \| 10⁻¹ s

Positive powers	10⁰ s \| 10 s \| 10² s \| 10³ s \| 10⁴ s \| 10⁵ s \| 10⁶ s \| 10⁷ s \| 10⁸ s \| 10⁹ s \| 10¹⁰ s \| 10¹¹ s \| 10¹² s \| 10¹³ s \|10¹⁴ s \| 10¹⁵ s \| 10¹⁶ s \| 10¹⁷ s \| 10¹⁸ s \| 10¹⁹ s and more

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