SortStack #3525 — 2036-02-02

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A single wingbeat of a hovering hummingbird 12.6 ms

   Up to 80 wingbeats per second lets hummingbirds hover, fly backwards, and even fly upside down — no other bird can do all three.

2. A Formula 1 qualifying lap of Monaco 1.2 min

   Monaco is F1's slowest lap by average speed, yet drivers call it the hardest 78 corners-per-race of the year — the barriers forgive nothing.

3. Sunlight travelling from the Sun's surface to Earth 8.3 min

   If the Sun vanished right now, we'd keep seeing it — and orbiting it — for another 8 minutes and 20 seconds before noticing anything.

4. Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday 46 days

   It's famously a 40-day fast, but the calendar span is 46 days — Sundays are feast days and traditionally don't count.

5. The time since Vesuvius buried Pompeii 1.9K years

   The AD 79 ash preserved loaves of bread still sitting in ovens — one carbonized loaf even bears its baker's stamp.

6. How long the Parthenon has been standing 2.5K years

   It survived largely intact for over 2,000 years — until 1687, when a Venetian shell hit the gunpowder the Ottomans had stored inside.

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