SortStack #2699 — 2033-10-29
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- One full revolution of a helicopter's main rotor 150 ms
Main rotors spin at only a few hundred rpm, but the blade tips travel so fast they approach the speed of sound — the source of that thudding chop.
- 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.
- An amber traffic light before it turns red 4 sec
Amber phases are tuned to road speed — typically 3 seconds in town and up to 6 on fast roads, calculated from braking distance physics.
- 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.
- The Epsom Derby, Britain's most famous horse race 2.5 min
Workforce's 2010 record run covered the mile and a half at over 56 km/h — and the race has been run every year since 1780, even through both World Wars.
- 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.