SortStack #1502 — 2030-07-20

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A Formula 1 pit stop to change all four tyres 2 sec

   McLaren set the world record at 1.80 seconds in Qatar 2023 — around twenty mechanics working in a window shorter than a heartbeat-and-a-half.

2. A standard television commercial 30 sec

   A single Super Bowl slot of this length has sold for over US$7 million — more than US$230,000 per second of airtime.

3. New Horizons' journey from Earth to Pluto 9.5 years

   It left Earth as the fastest spacecraft ever launched — and Pluto was demoted from planet status just seven months into the trip.

4. The reign of Queen Elizabeth II 70.5 years

   Her 70 years and 214 days saw 15 UK prime ministers, from Churchill to Truss — she appointed the last one two days before she died.

5. The era of the Crusades, from the first to the fall of Acre 194.9 years

   Nine major crusades spanned 195 years — and the Fourth never reached the Holy Land at all, sacking Christian Constantinople instead.

6. The Holy Roman Empire, from Otto the Great to its dissolution 844 years

   Voltaire quipped it was 'neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire' — yet it lasted 844 years before Napoleon finished it off in 1806.

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