[hurts] 
| the SI unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second. Abbreviation: Hz |
[hurts, hairts; Ger. herts] | 1. | Gu⋅stav [goo s-tahf] , 1887–1975, German physicist: Nobel prize 1925. |
| 2. | Hein⋅rich Ru⋅dolph [hahyn-rikh roo-dawlf] , 1857–94, German physicist. |
[hurt-see-uhn, hairt-] , adjective | hertz (hûrts) n. pl. hertz Abbr. Hz A unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second. See Table at measurement. [After Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.] |
| Hertz (hûrts, hěrts) German physicist who was the first to produce radio waves artificially. |
The international unit of frequency: one cycle per second. The abbreviation for hertz is Hz.
Note: Household current in the United States is sixty hertz.
hertz (hûrts)
n. pl. hertz
Abbr. Hz
A unit of frequency equal to 1 cycle per second.
hertz (hûrts) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window) The SI derived unit used to measure the frequency of vibrations and waves, such as sound waves and electromagnetic waves. One hertz is equal to one cycle per second. The hertz is named after German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894). |
hertz
unit of frequency. The number of hertz (abbreviated Hz) equals the number of cycles per second. The frequency of any phenomenon with regular periodic variations can be expressed in hertz, but the term is used most frequently in connection with alternating electric currents, electromagnetic waves (light, radar, etc.), and sound. It is part of the International System of Units (SI), which is based on the metric system. The term hertz was proposed in the early 1920s by German scientists to honour the 19th-century German physicist Heinrich Hertz. The unit was adopted in October 1933 by a committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission and is in widespread use today, although it has not entirely replaced the expression "cycles per second."
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