How long is 8 seconds?
It's about two-thirds as long as The First airplane flight (Wright Flyer, 1903)
The length of The First airplane flight (Wright Flyer, 1903) is about 12 seconds.
(Wright Flyer) (1903)
The first successful airplane flight was made by Orville Wright on December 17th, 1903 and lasted 12 seconds, covering a horizontal distance of 37 m (121.39 ft). The stopwatch used by Orville and his brother Wilbur to time this flight is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
It's about four times as long as The First movie
The length of The First movie is about 2.110 seconds.
(1888) (Roundhay Garden Scene, National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television restored copy)
Filmed in 1888 by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, Roundhay Garden Scene is the oldest surviving motion picture with a total running time of 2.11 seconds.
It's about one-fifth as long as The San Francisco earthquake of 1906
The length of The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is about 52.50 seconds.
(1906) (Mussel Rock Fault, California) (sensible duration)
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 caused perceptible shaking of the ground for about 45 to 60 seconds. The most devastating natural disaster in California's history, the quake was felt as far away and southern Oregon and western Nevada, and resulted in about 3,000 deaths, the displacement of 55% - 70% of the city's population, and the shifting of some spots of ground by up to 6 m (20 ft).
It's about one-ninetieth as long as The First spacewalk
The length of The First spacewalk is about 720 seconds.
(1965) (Alexi Lenovo, a.k.a. Алексе́й Архи́пович Лео́нов)
On March 18th, 1965, during the Voskhod 2 Soviet space mission, cosmonaut Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov conducted the first human spacewalk, which lasted 720 seconds. The total mission length was 1 day, 2 hours, 2 minutes, and 17 seconds.
It's about one-one-hundred-fiftieth as long as Louis-Antoine's reign
The length of Louis-Antoine's reign is about 1,000 seconds.
(a.k.a. Louis-Antoine d'Artois, petit-fils de France, fils de France, duc d'Angoulême, a.k.a. Count of Marnes) (1830)
Following his father, Charles X's, abdication on the eve of the 1830 French Revolution, Louis-Antoine d'Artois was technically king for a period of approximately 1,000 seconds on August 2nd, 1830. Louis-Antoine's only official act as king was to abdicate the throne to his nephew, the Henri, the Duke of Bordeaux.
It's about one-three-hundred-fiftieth as long as a Basketball game
The length of a Basketball game is about 2,880 seconds.
(NBA regulation; playing time only)
Per National Basketball Association rules , a basketball game (without an overtime) consists of four periods of 720 seconds each, for a total of 2,880 seconds of playing time. The first basketball game, played in a Springfield Massachusetts YMCA, was played in 1,800 seconds and ended with a score of 1-0.
It's about one-four-hundred-fiftieth as long as an American football game
The length of an American football game is about 3,600 seconds.
(per NFL rules; playing time only)
Per National Football League Rules, an American football game consists of four periods of 900 seconds each for a total of 3,600 seconds. The total duration of a football game can often be more than three hours, including stoppages of play, the intermission at halftime, team timeouts, and, in televised games, commercial timeouts. The Super Bowl — the highest-profile game of the sport — aired 45 minutes and 10 seconds of commercials in 2009.
It's about one-six-hundred-fiftieth as long as a Football match (Soccer game)
The length of a Football match (Soccer game) is about 5,400 seconds.
(a.k.a. Association Football, a.k.a. soccer) (per FIFA rules; playing time only)
Per Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Laws of the Game, an association football game consists of two periods of 2,700 seconds each, for a total of 5,400 seconds of playing time (except in games played by women, or by players under 16 or over 35 years of age). The longest recorded amateur football game was a 2009 match in the Filipino town of Barotac Nuevo that lasted for 130,000 seconds.
It's about one-one-thousand-five-hundredth as long as Gone with the Wind (film)
The length of Gone with the Wind (film) is about 13,600 seconds.
(1939)
Gone with the Wind, the multiple Academy Award-winning film, had a running time of 13,600 seconds for its 1939 copyright release. The scene depicting the burning of the Atlanta Depot cost $25,000 (unadjusted) and was filmed on a 0.16 sq. km (40-acre) set using all seven Technicolor cameras in existence at the time.
It's about one-three-thousandth as long as The First Indianapolis 500
The length of The First Indianapolis 500 is about 24,128 seconds.
(a.k.a. Indy 500, a.k.a. International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race) (1911) (Indianapolis, Indiana)
The first recorded automobile race of its distance, the inaugural Indianapolis 500 was won by Ray Harroun in 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 8 seconds. Haroun's average speed through the race was 120 kph (74.59 mph).
It's about one-four-thousandth as long as The Longest Pro Baseball Game
The length of The Longest Pro Baseball Game is about 30,300 seconds.
(1981) (McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, Rhode Island)
The longest professional baseball game in history — a triple-A game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings — took place between April 18th and 19th, 1981 lasting a total of 30,200 seconds (and 33 innings). The Red Sox ultimately won the game 3-2, but not before the game set twelve records, including the most plate appearances by a single player - a three-way tie between Tom Eaton, Dallas Williams, and future Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken Jr., all of Rochester.
It's about one-six-thousand-five-hundredth as long as The First light bulb test (Edison, 1879)
The length of The First light bulb test (Edison, 1879) is about 52,200 seconds.
(Thomas Edison's filament Thread No. 9) (1879) (total time)
Lit at 1:30am on October 22nd, 1879, the first Edison completed his first majorly successful test of his light bulb, which continued to burn for 52,200 seconds until the bulb glass succumbed to the heat and cracked, extinguishing the filament. Within 94,700,000 seconds of his success, Edison was selling 45,000 light bulbs per day to large companies across the country.
It's about one-seven-thousand-five-hundredth as long as The First Transatlantic Flight (Alcock and Brown, 1919)
The length of The First Transatlantic Flight (Alcock and Brown, 1919) is about 58,300 seconds.
(John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown) (1919) (first non-stop flight)
In an effort to win a £10,000 prize from London's The Daily Mail, John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed a flight from St. John's, Newfoundland to Connemara, Ireland in 58,300 seconds in June, 1919. In spite of their fame as aviators, Brown would never fly again after this trip and Alcock would lose his life during a flight to France less than 15,800,000 seconds later.
It's about one-fifteen-thousandth as long as The Battle of Fort Sumter
The length of The Battle of Fort Sumter is about 120,000 seconds.
(1861)
The first battle of the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Sumter began with the shelling of the Fort at 4:30 am on April 12th, 1861 and concluded with the surrender of the Fort by its Commander Robert Anderson at about 1:30pm on April 13th, 120,000 seconds later. The Battle's only casualties were the accidental shootings of two Union soldiers during the surrender ceremony.