What is the meaning of 'twinkling of an eye'?

Answer

There are three portions of time to consider here, The wink, the blink and the twink (no kidding-there was actually a study done). A blink is a controlled movement of the eye and so it's length of time is indeterminate, but the quickest blink lasts for a half second. A blink is a reflex action of the eye and lasts somewhere between 300 and 400 milliseconds. A twink is a reflected particle of light seen in the eye and thusly travels at the speed of light (983,571,056 feet per second) This equates to an infinitesimally small fraction of a second, so it would be fair to say it occurs in about a billionth of a second (which in itself is such a small period of time as to be nearly inconceiveable, but is gigantic compared to the actual time in which a twinkle occurs).

Answer

If you blink, you will miss it. It is the same as a split second, as if a second could be split into two halves.

First answer by Maesterseargant. Last edit by Chiprinehart. Contributor trust: 13 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 17 [recommend question]