Hertz Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the derived unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI) and is defined as one cycle per second. It is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertz are commonly expressed in multiples: kilohertz (10 Hz, kHz), megahertz (10 Hz, MHz), gigahertz (10 Hz, GHz), terahertz (10 Hz, THz), petahertz (10 Hz, PHz), and exahertz (10 Hz, EHz). Some of the unit's most common uses are in the description of sine waves and musical tones, particularly those used in radio- and
International System of Units and derived units may be used to express other derived units. For example, the SI unit of force is the newton (N), the SI unit of pressure is the pascal (Pa)—and the pascal can be defined as one newton per square metre (N/m). Prefixes are added to unit names to produce multiples and sub-multiples of the original unit. All of these are integer powers of ten, and above a hundred or below a hundredth all are integer powers of a thousand. For example, "kilo-" denotes a multiple of a thousand and "milli-" denotes a multiple of a thousandth, so there