Frequency Converter
Convert frequency units: Hz, kHz, MHz, GHz, RPM
Result
0.001
1 Hertz (Hz) = 0.001 Kilohertz (kHz)
What frequency measures
Frequency tells how many times per second something repeats. The SI unit is the hertz (Hz): 1 Hz is one cycle per second. Frequency is the reciprocal of the period: f = 1 / T.
Main units and where they are used
- Hertz (Hz) – the mains grid is 50 Hz in Europe and 60 Hz in the USA.
- Kilohertz (kHz) – sound; humans hear roughly from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
- Megahertz (MHz) – FM radio (roughly 87.5-108 MHz).
- Gigahertz (GHz) – processors and Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5 GHz); revolutions per minute (rpm) – engines, where 60 rpm = 1 Hz.
Common pitfalls
The most frequent mistake is mixing rpm and Hz: a motor turning 3000 rpm makes 50 revolutions per second, that is 50 Hz. Another is treating processor frequency as the only measure of performance: processors with the same frequency can perform very differently. Also remember that each prefix step is a factor of 1000: 1 GHz = 1000 MHz = 1,000,000 kHz.