In
physics and the
philosophy of science, instant refers to an
infinitesimal
In mathematics, an infinitesimal number is a quantity that is closer to zero than any standard real number, but that is not zero. The word ''infinitesimal'' comes from a 17th-century Modern Latin coinage ''infinitesimus'', which originally referr ...
interval in
time, whose passage is instantaneous. In ordinary speech, an instant has been defined as "a point or very short space of time," a notion deriving from its etymological source, the Latin verb ''instare'', from ''in-'' + ''stare'' ('to stand'), meaning 'to stand upon or near.'
The continuous nature of time and its infinite divisibility was addressed by
Aristotle in his ''
Physics'', where he wrote on
Zeno's paradoxes. The philosopher and mathematician
Bertrand Russell was still seeking to define the exact nature of an instant thousands of years later.
, the smallest time interval certify in regulated measurements is on the order of 397 zeptoseconds (397 × 10
−21 seconds).
See also
*
Infinitesimal
In mathematics, an infinitesimal number is a quantity that is closer to zero than any standard real number, but that is not zero. The word ''infinitesimal'' comes from a 17th-century Modern Latin coinage ''infinitesimus'', which originally referr ...
*
Present
The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perception, perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is ...
References
Time
{{time-stub
