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Second

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The second (symbol: s) is the SI base unit of time. It is often abbreviated sec. in non-SI usage.

Contents

[edit] Definition

The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 [[Period (physics) [[1]] of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two Hyperfine structure [[2]] of the ground state [[3]] of the caesium-133 [[4]] atom [[5]].

[edit] Origin

Originally, the second was known as a "second minute", meaning the second minute (i.e. small) division of an hour. The first division was known as a "prime minute" and is equivalent to the minute we know today.

[edit] Conversions

  • 60 seconds = 1 minute [[6]]
  • 3 600 seconds = 1 hour [[7]]
  • 86.4 kiloseconds (86 400 seconds) = 1 day [[8]] (in the SI sense)

[edit] Explanation

See also explanation at [[9]]

The definition of the second was later refined at the 1997 meeting of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures [[10]] to include the statement

This definition refers to a caesium atom at rest at a temperature of 0 K.

[edit] See also

  • Leap second [[11]]
  • Orders of magnitude (time)[[12]]
  • UTC [[13]]
  • Atomic clock [[14]]

[edit] External links

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at second. The list of authors can be seen in that page's history. As with this Engineering wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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