What is 1 hertz?

1 hertz is when something happens once every second, like a heartbeat or a ticking clock.

Imagine you're sitting on a swing at the park. You push yourself forward, and then you come back to where you started, that’s one full cycle. If you do this once every second, that means your swing is going at 1 hertz.

Think of a clock. Every second, the second hand moves just a little bit, but if it was really fast, it might move all the way around in one second. That would be like something happening very quickly, like 60 times per minute! But 1 hertz is slower, it’s just once every second, like the clock ticking tick... tick... tick...

Your heart beats about 60 to 100 times a minute. That means each beat happens about once every second or so, that’s roughly 1 hertz! So your heartbeat is kind of like something happening at 1 hertz, but sometimes faster.

If you can imagine the rhythm of a clock or the steady thump of your heart, you're already thinking in hertz!1 hertz is when something happens once every second, like a heartbeat or a ticking clock.

Imagine you're sitting on a swing at the park. You push yourself forward, and then you come back to where you started, that’s one full cycle. If you do this once every second, that means your swing is going at 1 hertz.

Think of a clock. Every second, the second hand moves just a little bit, but if it was really fast, it might move all the way around in one second. That would be like something happening very quickly, like 60 times per minute! But 1 hertz is slower, it’s just once every second, like the clock ticking tick... tick... tick...

Your heart beats about 60 to 100 times a minute. That means each beat happens about once every second or so, that’s roughly 1 hertz! So your heartbeat is kind of like something happening at 1 hertz, but sometimes faster.

If you can imagine the rhythm of a clock or the steady thump of your heart, you're already thinking in hertz!