Time Scale

A time scale specifies divisions of time.

  • Time standard, a specification of either the rate at which time passes, or points in time, or both
  • Duration (disambiguation), a quantity of time
  • Geological time scale, a scale that divides up the history of Earth into scientifically meaningful periods
  • In astronomy and astrophysics:
    • Dynamical time scale either (in stellar physics) measures the length of time over which changes in one part of a body can be communicated to the rest of that body, or (in celestial mechanics) is a realization of a time-like argument based on a dynamical theory
    • Nuclear time scale, estimates the lifetime of a star based solely on its rate of fuel consumption
    • Thermal time scale, estimates the lifetime of a star once its fuel reserves at its center are used up or if they were to disappear
  • In cosmology and particle physics:
    • Planck time, the time scale beneath which quantum effects are comparable in significance to gravitational effects
  • In mathematics:
    • Time scale calculus, the unification of the theory of difference equations with differential equations
  • In music:
    • rhythm, a temporal pattern of events
    • Time scale (music), divides up music into sections based on the scope

Famous quotes containing the words time and/or scale:

    “He said, truly, that the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause,—a kind of armor which he and his party never lacked. When the time came, few men were found willing to lay down their lives in defense of what they knew to be wrong; they did not like that this should be their last act in this world.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “... the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God’s will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.”
    —Maya Angelou (b. 1928)