Microsecond (µs)
One millionth of a second. Used for electronics and processor timing.
1 microsecond = 0.000001 seconds (exactly).
About the microsecond
Writing a microsecond takes a Greek letter, mu, which stands for the prefix micro-, one millionth. Where plain text cannot display it, people fall back on the letter u and write us. The unit belongs to electronics and radio: a signal that repeats every microsecond has a frequency of 1 MHz, and a radio wave of that period is about 300 m long.
A microsecond is one millionth of a second, short enough that light in a vacuum crosses only about 1 km in 3.34 of them. Digital audio lives on this scale, because a CD sample at 44.1 kHz lasts about 22.7 microseconds and a 48 kHz sample about 20.8. A modern solid-state drive has an access latency of about 50 microseconds, and a camera flash lasts around 1,000. Relativity matters at this scale too: GPS satellite clocks would drift by about 38 microseconds per day without compensation. Wikipedia notes that the 2011 Japanese earthquake shortened the day by about 1.8 microseconds.
Sources: Wikipedia: Microsecond; BIPM: SI Brochure, 9th edition
Microsecond conversion chart
1 microsecond expressed in every other time unit:
| Unit | 1 microsecond |
|---|---|
| Seconds | 0.000001 |
| Minutes | 1.666666667×10⁻⁸ |
| Hours | 2.777777778×10⁻¹⁰ |
| Days | 1.157407407×10⁻¹¹ |
| Weeks | 1.653439153×10⁻¹² |
| Months | 3.802648621×10⁻¹³ |
| Years | 3.168873851×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Milliseconds | 0.001 |
| Nanoseconds | 1,000 |
| Decades | 3.168873851×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Centuries | 3.168873851×10⁻¹⁶ |
| Millennia | 3.168873851×10⁻¹⁷ |
| Picoseconds | 1,000,000 |
| Common Years | 3.170979198×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Leap Years | 3.162315321×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Julian Years | 3.168808781×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Tropical Years | 3.16887654×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Sidereal Years | 3.168753579×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Synodic Months | 3.919350773×10⁻¹³ |
| Sidereal Days | 1.160576284×10⁻¹¹ |
| Aeons | 3.168873851×10⁻²³ |
| Shakes | 100 |
| Fortnights | 8.267195767×10⁻¹³ |
| Score | 1.584436925×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Lustra | 6.337747701×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Olympiads | 7.922184627×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Indictions | 2.112582567×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Jubilees | 6.337747701×10⁻¹⁶ |
| Ghati | 6.944444444×10⁻¹⁰ |
| Muhurtas | 3.472222222×10⁻¹⁰ |
| Prahar | 9.259259259×10⁻¹¹ |
| Shichen | 1.388888889×10⁻¹⁰ |
| Moments | 1.111111111×10⁻⁸ |
| Ship's Watches | 6.944444444×10⁻¹¹ |
| Kin (Maya) | 1.157407407×10⁻¹¹ |
| Winals | 5.787037037×10⁻¹³ |
| Tun (Maya) | 3.215020576×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Katuns | 1.607510288×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Baktuns | 8.03755144×10⁻¹⁷ |
More Metric (SI) units
- second (time)
- millisecond (time)
- nanosecond (time)
- minute (time)
- hour (time)
- day (time)
- meter (length)
- kilometer (length)
- centimeter (length)
- millimeter (length)
- micrometer (length)
- nanometer (length)
- picometer (length)
- decimeter (length)
- hectometer (length)
- decameter (length)
Browse all time units.