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1 E19 s and more



 
 
To help compare orders of magnitude of different times, this page lists times longer than 1019 second
Second

The second , sometimes abbreviated sec., is the name of a units of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units SI base unit of time....
s
(317 billion years). See also Heat death of the universe
Heat death of the universe

The heat death is a possible Fate of the universe, in which it has "Entropy" to a state of no thermodynamic free energy to sustain motion or life....
.

Some radioisotopes have extremely long half-lives
Half-life

The half-life of a quantity whose value decreases with time is the interval required for the quantity to decay to half of its initial value. The concept originated in describing how long it takes atoms to undergo radioactive decay but also applies in a wide variety of other situations....
:






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To help compare orders of magnitude of different times, this page lists times longer than 1019 second
Second

The second , sometimes abbreviated sec., is the name of a units of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units SI base unit of time....
s
(317 billion years). See also Heat death of the universe
Heat death of the universe

The heat death is a possible Fate of the universe, in which it has "Entropy" to a state of no thermodynamic free energy to sustain motion or life....
.

Some radioisotopes have extremely long half-lives
Half-life

The half-life of a quantity whose value decreases with time is the interval required for the quantity to decay to half of its initial value. The concept originated in describing how long it takes atoms to undergo radioactive decay but also applies in a wide variety of other situations....
:
  • (1.4 ± 0.4) × 1017 years – vanadium-50
  • (1.9 ± 0.2) × 1019 years – bismuth-209
    Bismuth-209

    Bismuth-209 is the most stable isotope of bismuth. It has 83 protons and 126 neutrons, and an atomic mass of 208.9803987. All naturally occurring bismuth is of this isotope....
  • (3.1 ± 0.4) × 1019 years – cadmium-116
  • (2.2 ± 0.3) × 1024 years – tellurium-128


The following times all assume that the Universe
Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
 is "open"; that is to say that it will continue indefinitely and not collapse in upon itself within a finite timescale.

  • 1012 (1 trillion) years—low estimate for the time until star formation
    Star formation

    Star formation is the process by which dense parts of molecular clouds collapse into a ball of Plasma to form a star. As a branch of astronomy star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium and giant molecular clouds as precursors to the star formation process and the study of young stellar objects and planet formation as its i...
     ends in galaxies as galaxies are depleted of the gas clouds they need to form stars., §IID.
  • 2×1012 (2 trillion years)—time until all galaxies outside the Local Supercluster are no longer detectable in any way, assuming that dark energy
    Dark energy

    In physical cosmology & astronomy dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the Hubble's law....
     continues to make the Universe expand at an accelerating rate.
  • 1013 (10 trillion) to 2×1013 (20 trillion) years—lifetime of the longest-lived stars, low-mass red dwarf
    Red Dwarf

    Red Dwarf is a United Kingdom science fiction television situation comedy Media franchise, primarily comprising eight series of a television sitcom that ran on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and gained a cult following....
    s. §IIA.
  • 1014 (100 trillion) years—high estimate for the time until star formation
    Star formation

    Star formation is the process by which dense parts of molecular clouds collapse into a ball of Plasma to form a star. As a branch of astronomy star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium and giant molecular clouds as precursors to the star formation process and the study of young stellar objects and planet formation as its i...
     ends in galaxies., §IID. Once star formation ends and the least massive red dwarfs exhaust their fuel, the only stellar-mass objects remaining will be stellar remnants
    Compact star

    In astronomy, the term compact star is used to refer collectively to white dwarfs, neutron stars, other exotic star, and black holes. These objects are all small for their mass....
     (white dwarf
    White dwarf

    A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. Because a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth, it is very density....
    s, neutron star
    Neutron star

    A neutron star is a type of compact star that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II supernova, Type Ib and Ic supernovae supernova event....
    s and black hole
    Stellar black hole

    A stellar black hole is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a massive star at the end of its lifetime. The process is observed as a supernova explosion or as a gamma ray burst....
    s.) Brown dwarf
    Brown dwarf

    Brown dwarfs are sub-star objects with a mass below that necessary to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, as do stars on the main sequence, but which have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth....
    s will also remain. §IIE.
  • 1015 years—estimated time until planets are detached from their orbits. Whenever two objects pass close to each other, the orbits of their planets can be disrupted and the planets can be ejected from orbit around their parent objects. Planets with closer orbits take longer to be ejected in this manner on average because a passing object must make a closer pass to the planet's primary to eject the planet., §IIIF, Table I.
  • 1019 to 1020 years—the estimated time until brown dwarf
    Brown dwarf

    Brown dwarfs are sub-star objects with a mass below that necessary to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, as do stars on the main sequence, but which have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth....
    s and stellar remnants
    Compact star

    In astronomy, the term compact star is used to refer collectively to white dwarfs, neutron stars, other exotic star, and black holes. These objects are all small for their mass....
     are ejected from galaxies. When two objects pass close enough to each other, they exchange orbital energy with lower-mass objects tending to gain energy. The lower-mass objects can gain enough energy in this manner through repeated encounters to be ejected from the galaxy. This process will cause the galaxy to eject the majority of its brown dwarfs and stellar remnants., §IIIA;, pp. 85–87
  • 1020 years—estimated time until the Earth
    Earth

    Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
    's orbit around the Sun
    Sun

    The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
     decays via emission of gravitational radiation, if the Earth is neither first engulfed by the red giant Sun
    Formation and evolution of the Solar System

    The formation and wikt:evolution of the Solar System is estimated to have begun 4.6 1000000000 years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud....
     a few billion years from now nor ejected from its orbit by a stellar encounter before then.
  • 1032 years—the smallest possible value for the proton
    Proton

    The proton is a subatomic particle with an electric charge of +1 elementary charge. It is found in the nucleus of each atom but is also stable by itself and has a second identity as the hydrogen ion, H+....
     half-life consistent with experiment.
  • 3×1034 years—the estimated time for all nucleons in the observable universe to decay, if the proton half-life takes its smallest possible value.
  • 1041 years—the largest possible value for the proton half-life, assuming that the Big Bang
    Big Bang

    The Big Bang is the physical cosmology model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific method and observation....
     was inflationary and that the same process that makes protons decay made baryons predominate over anti-baryons in the early Universe., §IVA.
  • 3×1043 years—the estimated time for all nucleons in the observable universe to decay, if the proton half-life takes the largest possible value, 1041 years, consistent with the conditions given above.
  • 1065 years—estimated time for rigid objects like rocks
    Rock (geology)

    In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
     to rearrange their atoms and molecules via quantum tunnelling
    Quantum tunnelling

    In quantum mechanics, wave-mechanical tunneling is an evanescent wave that occurs because the behaviour of particles is governed by Schroedinger equation....
    , assuming that the proton does not decay
    Proton decay

    In particle physics, proton decay is a Hypothesis form of radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, usually a neutral pion and a positron....
    . On this timescale all matter is liquid.
  • 2×1066 years—the estimated time until a black hole with the mass of the Sun decays by the Hawking process
    Hawking radiation

    Hawking radiation is a thermal radiation with a black body predicted to be emitted by black holes due to quantum physics effects. It is named after the physicist Stephen Hawking who provided the theoretical argument for its existence in 1974, and sometimes also after the physicist Jacob Bekenstein who predicted that black holes should have a...
    .
  • 1.7×10106 years—the estimated time until a supermassive black hole
    Supermassive black hole

    A supermassive black hole is a black hole with a mass of an order of magnitude between 105 and 1010 solar masses. Most, if not all, galaxy, including the Milky Way, are believed to contain supermassive black holes at their centers....
     with a mass of 20 trillion solar mass
    Solar mass

    The solar mass is a standard way to express mass in astronomy, used to describe the masses of other stars and galaxy. It is equal to the mass of the Sun, about two Names of large numbers kilograms or about 332,950 times the mass of the Earth, or 1,048 times the mass of Jupiter....
    es decays by the Hawking process.
  • 101500 years—the estimated time until all matter decays to 56Fe
    Iron-56

    Iron-56 is the most common isotope of iron. About 91.754% of all iron is iron-56.Of all isotopes, iron-56 has the lowest mass per nucleon. With 8.8 MeV binding energy per nucleon, iron-56 is one of the most tightly bound nuclei....
     (if the proton does not decay
    Proton decay

    In particle physics, proton decay is a Hypothesis form of radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, usually a neutral pion and a positron....
    ). See isotopes of iron
    Isotopes of iron

    Naturally occurring iron consists of four isotopes: 5.845% of radioactive 54Fe , 91.754% of stable 56Fe, 2.119% of stable 57Fe and 0.282% of stable 58Fe....
    .
  • 10(1026) years—low estimate for the time until all matter collapses into black hole
    Black hole

    In general relativity, a black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, including electromagnetic radiation , can escape its pull after having fallen past its event horizon....
    s, assuming no proton decay
    Proton decay

    In particle physics, proton decay is a Hypothesis form of radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, usually a neutral pion and a positron....
    .
  • 10(1076) years—high estimate for the time until all matter collapses into neutron star
    Neutron star

    A neutron star is a type of compact star that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II supernova, Type Ib and Ic supernovae supernova event....
    s or black holes, again assuming no proton decay
    Proton decay

    In particle physics, proton decay is a Hypothesis form of radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, usually a neutral pion and a positron....
    .


  • years—scale of an estimated Poincaré recurrence time
    Poincaré recurrence theorem

    In mathematics, the Poincar? recurrence theorem states that certain systems will, after a sufficiently long time, return to a state very close to the initial state....
     for the quantum state of a hypothetical box containing a black hole with the mass within the presently visible region of our universe. This time assumes a statistical model subject to Poincaré recurrence
    Poincaré recurrence theorem

    In mathematics, the Poincar? recurrence theorem states that certain systems will, after a sufficiently long time, return to a state very close to the initial state....
    . A much simplified way of thinking about this time is in a model where our universe's history repeats itself
    Loschmidt's paradox

    Loschmidt's paradox, also known as the reversibility paradox, is the objection that it should not be possible to deduce an irreversible process from time-symmetric dynamics....
     arbitrarily many times due to properties of statistical mechanics
    Ergodic hypothesis

    The quick definition of ergodic is that given sufficient time, a system will return to states that it has previously experienced. The text below explains this basic premise in detail....
    , this is the time scale when it will first be somewhat similar (for a reasonable choice of "similar") to its current state again.


  • years—scale of an estimated Poincaré recurrence time
    Poincaré recurrence theorem

    In mathematics, the Poincar? recurrence theorem states that certain systems will, after a sufficiently long time, return to a state very close to the initial state....
     for the quantum state of a hypothetical box containing a black hole with the estimated mass of the entire universe, observable or not, assuming a certain inflationary model with an inflaton whose mass is 10-6 Planck mass
    Planck mass

    In physics, the Planck mass is the unit of mass in the system of natural units known as Planck units. The name honors Max Planck, who was the first to propose it....
    es.


See also

  • Heat Death
  • Second law of thermodynamics
    Second law of thermodynamics

    The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the universal law of increasing entropy, stating that the entropy of an isolated system which is not in Thermodynamic equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium....
  • Big Rip
    Big Rip

    The Big Rip is a physical cosmology hypothesis first published in 2003, about the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the matter of universe, from stars and galaxies to atoms and subatomic particles, are progressively torn apart by the metric expansion of space at a certain time in the future....
  • Big Crunch
    Big Crunch

    In physical cosmology, the Big Crunch is one possible scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the metric expansion of space eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately ending as a black hole naked singularity....
  • Big Bounce
    Big Bounce

    The Big Bounce is a theorized scientific model related to the formation of the known Universe. It derives from the cyclic model or oscillatory universe interpretation of the Big Bang where the first cosmological event was the result of the collapse of a previous universe....
  • Big Bang
    Big Bang

    The Big Bang is the physical cosmology model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific method and observation....
  • Cyclic model
    Cyclic model

    Cyclic model refers to several cosmological models in which the universe follows infinite, self-sustaining cycles ....
  • Dyson's eternal intelligence
    Dyson's eternal intelligence

    Dyson's eternal intelligence is a concept that states an intelligence being would be able to think an infinite number of thoughts in an open universe....
  • Final anthropic principle
    Final anthropic principle

    The final anthropic principle is defined by physicists John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler's 1986 book "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle" as a generalization of the anthropic principle as follows:...
  • Ultimate fate of the Universe
    Ultimate fate of the universe

    The ultimate fate of the universe is a topic in physical cosmology. Many possible fates are predicted by rival scientific theories, including futures of both finite and infinite duration....
  • Graphical timeline of the Stelliferous Era
    Graphical timeline of the Stelliferous Era

    This is the timeline of the The Five Ages of the Universe but also partly charts the The Five Ages of the Universe, and charts more of the The Five Ages of the Universe of the Heat death of the universe scenario....
  • Graphical timeline from Big Bang to Heat Death
    Graphical timeline from Big Bang to Heat Death

    This is the timeline of the Universe from Big Bang to Heat death of the universe scenario. The Five Ages of the Universe are shown.Usually the Logarithmic timeline is used for such timelines but it compresses the most interesting Stelliferous Era too much as Future of an expanding universe#Graphical timeline example shows....
    . This timeline uses the loglog scale for comparison with the graphical timeline included in this article.
  • Graphical timeline of our universe
    Graphical timeline of our universe

    This more than twenty billion years timeline of our universe shows the best scientific estimates of the occurrence of events since its beginning, up until anticipated events in the near future....
    . This timeline uses the more intuitive linear time, for comparison with this article.
  • Timeline of the Big Bang
    Timeline of the Big Bang

    This timeline of the Big Bang describes the events according to the widely accepted scientific theory of the Big Bang, using the cosmological time parameter of comoving coordinates....
  • Graphical timeline of the Big Bang
    Graphical timeline of the Big Bang

    Main source article: Timeline of the Big BangThis timeline of the Big Bang shows the sequence of events as predicted by the Big Bang theory, from the beginning of time to the end of the Timeline of the Big Bang#Dark ages....
  • The Last Question
    The Last Question

    "The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows , The Best of Isaac Asimov and Robot Dreams , as well as the retrospective Opus 100 ....
    , a short story by Isaac Asimov which considers the inevitable oncome of heat death in the universe and how it may be reversed.


External links