# Nano Second **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909 "2000-11-27T20:53:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sublime1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Sublime1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublime1300)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/1 "2000-11-27T20:53:07Z")
What is Nano Second? ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/2 "2000-11-27T21:06:34Z")
1 nanosecond = 1 billionth of a second, or 0.000000001 seconds, or 10[sup]-12[\sup] seconds. Light travels about one foot in a nanosecond. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/3 "2000-11-27T21:07:12Z")
A nanosecond is .000000001 of a second. ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/4 "2000-11-27T21:09:08Z")
It is 10[sup]-9[/sup] of a second ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/5 "2000-11-27T21:10:22Z")
Do you mean the race between Nano and Mercury, in which Mercury was First, and Nano Second? 🙂 What context? Look up the Metric System. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/6 "2000-11-27T21:13:55Z")
Oops- I screwed up the superscript code AND the number itself! Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/7 "2000-11-27T23:47:41Z")
FWIW, here’s more info. It’s from the metric system. Nano is 10e-9 ```auto 10e-24 Yocto 10e-21 Zepto 10e-18 QUINTILLIONTH Atto 10e-15 QUADRILLIONTH Femto 10e-12 TRILLIONTH Pico 10e-9 BILLIONTH Nano 10e-6 MILLIONTH Micro 10e-3 THOUSANDTH Milli 10e-2 HUNDREDTH Centi 10e-1 TENTH Deci ``` Just apply the prefix to your unit of measurement (e.g., milli-meter, nano-second, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/8 "2000-11-28T01:47:26Z")
[nano- (n-) a metric prefix meaning 10-9, or one billionth. The prefix comes from the Greek word nanos, dwarf](http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictN.html) ---
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/9 "2000-11-28T02:12:54Z")
To put it in perspective a little bit, a nanosecond is roughly the length of time it takes a beam of light to travel one foot in a vacuum. Those new CPUs with sub-nanosecond clock cycle times are _fast_. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nano-second/42909/10 "2000-11-28T06:20:28Z")
And in case it’s not abundantly clear – sub-nanosecond clock cycle times correspond to \>1 GHz (that’s Gigahertz) speeds. To reiterate, 1 nanosecond (10[sup]-9[/sup] second) is the period of a 1 GHz (10[sup]9[/sup]Hertz) clock. panamajack your picosecond specialist.