The idea of orgasm as climax suggests that it is soon over, and this is indeed true. At the same time a single orgasm can sometimes roll on and on with the man - or more likely the woman - carried along on waves of bliss. According to Fisher the typical female orgasm lasts from 6 to 10 seconds. In a few extreme cases in the various samples, it was reported that orgasm lasts "more than 20 seconds". With the general spread of human ability we may expect a record orgasm to last for around half a minute!