SortStack #1747 — 2031-03-22
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- A single sneeze, from sharp inhale to achoo 1.5 sec
A sneeze can launch droplets several metres, and you can't sneeze with your eyes open without effort — the blink is part of the reflex.
- One full rotation of Earth on its axis 23.9 h
A true rotation takes 23 hours 56 minutes — the extra 4 minutes of our day come from Earth also moving along its orbit and needing to catch up to the Sun.
- The Islamic holy month of Ramadan 29.5 days
Because it follows the lunar calendar, Ramadan drifts about 11 days earlier each year — cycling through every season over 33 years.
- 'Logistics', the longest film ever made 35.7 days
The Swedish experimental film follows a pedometer's supply chain in reverse, in real time, from a Stockholm shop back to a Chinese factory.
- One year on Mercury (a full orbit of the Sun) 88 days
Mercury's spin is so slow that a single sunrise-to-sunrise day there lasts about two of its years — you could outwalk its sunset.
- Ancient Egyptian civilization, from unification to Cleopatra 3.1K years
It ran so long that Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid.