Millisecond

Horizontal logarithmic scale marked with units of time

A millisecond (from milli- and second; symbol: ms) is a thousandth (0.001 or 10⁻³ or ¹/₁₀₀₀) of a second.^[1]

10 milliseconds (a hundredth of a second) are called a centisecond.

100 milliseconds (one tenth of a second) are called a decisecond.

To help compare orders of magnitude of different times, this page lists times between 10⁻³ seconds and 10⁰ seconds (1 millisecond and one second). See also times of other orders of magnitude.

Examples

• 1 millisecond (1 ms) — cycle time for frequency 1 kHz; duration of light for typical photo flash strobe; time taken for sound wave to travel ca. 34 cm; repetition interval of GPS C/A PN code
• 1.000692286 milliseconds — time taken for light to travel 300 km in a vacuum
• 2 milliseconds to 5 milliseconds - typical response time in LCD computer monitors, especially high-end displays
• 2.27 milliseconds — cycle time for A440 (pitch standard), the most commonly used pitch for tuning musical instruments
• 3 milliseconds — a housefly's wing flap
• 3.3 milliseconds — normal delay time between initiation and detonation of a C4 explosive charge
• 4 milliseconds — typical average seek time for a 10,000 rpm hard disk
• 5 milliseconds — a honey bee's wing flap
• 5 milliseconds to 80 milliseconds — a hummingbird's wing flap
• 8 milliseconds — 1/125 of a second, a standard camera shutter speed (125); fastest shifting time of a car's mechanical transmission
• 10 milliseconds (10 ms) — a jiffy, cycle time for frequency 100 Hz
• 15.625 milliseconds — a two hundred fifty-sixth note at 60 BPM
• 16.67 milliseconds (1/60 second) — a third, cycle time for American 60 Hz AC electricity (mains grid)
• 16.68 milliseconds (1/59.94 second) — the amount of time one field lasts in 29.97 fps interlaced video (commonly erroneously referred to as 30 fps)
• 20 milliseconds — cycle time for European 50 Hz AC electricity
• 31.25 milliseconds — a hundred twenty-eighth note at 60 BPM
• 33.367 milliseconds — the amount of time one frame lasts in 29.97 fps video (most common for NTSC-legacy formats)
• 41.667 milliseconds — the amount of time one frame lasts in 24 fps video (most common cinematic frame rate)
• 41.708 milliseconds — the amount of time one frame lasts in 23.976 fps video (cinematic frame rate for NTSC-legacy formats)
• 50 milliseconds — the time interval between gear changes on a Lamborghini Aventador
• 50 milliseconds — cycle time for the lowest audible tone, 20 Hz
• 60 milliseconds — cycle time for European 16.7 Hz AC electrified railroad power grid
• 60 milliseconds — the time interval between gear changes on a Ferrari 458 Spider
• 62.5 milliseconds — a sixty-fourth note at 60 BPM
• 5 to 80 milliseconds — typical latency for a broadband internet connection (important for playing online games)
• 100 milliseconds — the time interval between gear changes on a Ferrari FXX
• 125 milliseconds — a thirty-second note at 60 BPM
• 134 milliseconds — time taken by light to travel around the Earth's equator
• 150 milliseconds — recommended maximum time delay for telephone service
• 185 milliseconds — the duration of a full rotation of the main rotor on Bell 205, 212 and 412 helicopters (normal rotor speed is 324 RPM)
• 200 milliseconds — the time it takes the human brain to recognize emotion in facial expressions
• 250 milliseconds — a sixteenth note at 60 BPM
• 300 to 400 milliseconds — the time for the human eye to blink
• 400 milliseconds — time in which the fastest baseball pitches reach the strike zone
• 430 to 500 milliseconds — common modern dance music tempos (120–140 BPM)
• 495 milliseconds — an approximate average of the round trip time for communications via geosynchronous satellites
• 500 milliseconds — an eighth note at 60 BPM
• 860 milliseconds — average human resting heart cycle time
• 1000 milliseconds — one second; the period of a 1 Hz oscillator
• 86,400,000 (24 × 60 × 60 × 1000) milliseconds — one day
• 604,800,000 (24 x 60 x 60 x 1000 x 7) milliseconds — one week
• 31,556,908,800 (86,400,000 × 365.242) milliseconds — one year

Half-lives

For a list half-lives in this timescale, see: List of isotopes by half-life

See also

• SI unit
• Second
• Microsecond
• Nanosecond
• Picosecond
• Femtosecond
• Attosecond
• Orders of magnitude (time)

References

1. New Oxford Dictionary

External links

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)