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"Jiffy" Time Scale
Name: Fred B.
Status: educator
Age: old
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 6/25/2003
Question:
I seem to remember (most vaguely)a unit of time called a "Jiffy", or "Jiffi",
or the like. This is not a joke. My memory thinks it was supposedly the time it took light
to travel one centimeter in a vacuum! I can find no reference anywhere. Any foundation
here?
Also, I recall some wag colleagues at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in the early 1960s
labeling a nanosecond scale as "Light Feet" - works out very close!
Replies:
Fred,
When people tell you, "They will be there in a 'jiffi' or a 'jif'", they are exaggerating,
unless of course they can move at the speed of light.
A 'jiffi' or 'jiffy' is the time it takes LIGHT to traverse the distance of 1 centimeter
(33.3 pico seconds = 0.000,000,000,033,300 seconds). 1 light - cm is pretty quick !!
http://www.numericana.com/answer/units.htm#jiffyy
Regards,
Darin Wagner
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