Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second -- one second holds about eight times more femtoseconds than all the hours that have passed since the universe began.

From Science Daily • Mar. 6, 2026

His work centers on miniaturizing mode-lock lasers -- a unique laser that emits a train of ultrashort, coherent light pulses in femtosecond intervals, which is an astonishing quadrillionth of a second.

From Science Daily • Nov. 9, 2023

These samples were blasted with specialized white light lasers for just one quadrillionth of a second, but this was enough to illuminate thousands of tiny black carbon molecules.

From Salon • Oct. 13, 2022

He notes that incoming ions and the material’s electrons interact for a quadrillionth of a second, but current technology only allows physicists to examine the ion after a microsecond—a billion times longer.

From Scientific American • Sep. 2, 2021

Modern radio telescopes are exquisitely sensitive; a distant quasar is so faint that its detected radiation amounts perhaps to a quadrillionth of a watt.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan