nanosecond

n. (Abbr. ns or nsec)
One billionth (10 ^-9) of a second.

nanosecond (NAN-uh-sek-uhnd)

A billionth of a second.The term is often used to refer to a very short time: “He missed having an accident by nanoseconds.”

(1) One billionth of a second. Used to measure the speed of logic and memory chips, a nanosecond can be visualized by converting it to distance. In one nanosecond, electricity travels approximately a foot in a wire. Admiral Grace Hopper was famous for handing out strands of "telephone wire nanoseconds" to her audience whenever she lectured about technology. Holding the wire turns the unreal concept of a billionth of a second into reality.

Even at 186,000 miles per second, electricity is never fast enough for the hardware designer who worries over a few inches of circuit path. The slightest delay is multiplied millions of times, since millions of pulses are sent through a wire in a single second. In addition, today's chips contain more than a quarter mile of wire traces (current-carrying pathways). Future chips are expected to contain several miles of circuit paths. See space/time, jiffy and ohnosecond.

(2) The time between a traffic light turning green and a New York City cab driver blowing his horn.

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One-thousand-millionth (10⁻⁹) second; abbreviated ns or nsec.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - nanosekund

Nederlands (Dutch)
nanoseconde (miljardste seconde)

Français (French)
n. - nanoseconde

Deutsch (German)
n. - Nanosekunde

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δισεκατομμυριοστό του δευτερολέπτου

Italiano (Italian)
nanosecondo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - nanossegundo (m)

Русский (Russian)
наносекунда

Español (Spanish)
n. - nanosegundo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - nanosekund

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
十亿分之一秒

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 十億分之一秒

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 10억 분의 1초

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ナノ秒

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جزء من بليون من الثانيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אחד חלקי מיליארד של שניה‬

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