SortStack #2482 — 2033-03-26
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- A lightning flash from start to finish 198 ms
What looks like one bolt is usually several return strokes in a row, heating the air to around 30,000°C — five times hotter than the Sun's surface.
- The Battle of Leipzig, Napoleon's 'Battle of the Nations' 4 days
With around 600,000 soldiers from over a dozen nations, the 1813 clash was Europe's largest battle until the First World War.
- The time since a human last stood on the Moon 53.4 years
Gene Cernan traced his daughter's initials in the dust in December 1972 — no boots have touched the surface since.
- The construction of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona (so far) 143.9 years
Begun in 1882 and still unfinished, it only received an official building permit in 2019 — Gaudí said 'my client is not in a hurry'.
- The time since the last woolly mammoths died out 4K years
A dwarf population survived on Wrangel Island until about 2000 BC — meaning mammoths were alive while the Giza pyramids were already centuries old.
- How long Jericho has been continuously inhabited 10.8K years
Among the world's oldest cities, Jericho's stone tower predates pottery itself — people built monuments before they made bowls.