SortStack #305 — 2027-04-10

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. An average human's reaction to a starting gun 252 ms

   Athletics rules treat any sprint start faster than 100 milliseconds as a false start — it's considered humanly impossible to react that quickly.

2. One swing of a grandfather clock's pendulum 1 sec

   A pendulum about one metre long swings in almost exactly one second — a coincidence so neat it was once proposed as the definition of the metre.

3. A qualifying rodeo bull ride 8 sec

   Riders must stay on with one hand for the full count to score at all — touching the bull or themselves with the free hand means instant disqualification.

4. An episode of The Simpsons, without adverts 22 min

   The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted primetime series in US history — Bart has been ten years old for over three and a half decades.

5. Yuri Gagarin's entire Vostok 1 spaceflight 108 min

   The first human spaceflight was a single orbit — and Gagarin ejected and parachuted down separately from his capsule, landing in a potato field.

6. A full-term human pregnancy 280 days

   Only about 4% of babies arrive on their due date — and the classic count starts from before conception even happens.

← All puzzles · Play today’s SortStack