in quantum physics,is there generally accepted to be a fundamental
unit of time, as there is with particles such as electrons ?  if so,
any idea of it's duration

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Request for Question Clarification by hedgie-ga on 24 Jul 2003 17:53 PDT

The expression "fundamental unit of time" is not clear.

 If it means 'is time quantised' --i.e.  is a there a smallest
 time interval, then answer is NO in  the current theory.
 Speculations are well covered by the article quoted by shazam.

 Is the question answered or do you want to elaborate?

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Clarification of Question by seanmc-ga on 24 Jul 2003 18:41 PDT

'is time quantised' is the way i should have phrased it.

the question is answered

appreciate your help

I think the bast answer is that no one is really sure.  Some theories
grand unified theories require a quantization of time (which requires
some minimum duration), but there is no experimental evidence
supporting this.  Check out this artice, which addresses the question
directly:

http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000A03B0-6000-1C71-9EB7809EC588F2D7