About

In digital electronics and signal processing, the Period (T) represents the duration of one complete cycle of a repeating event. Accurately converting between frequency and period is fundamental when configuring oscilloscopes, designing clock generation circuits, or calculating timing constraints for microcontrollers. A discrepancy in these values can lead to signal aliasing, timing violations in FPGAs, or incorrect baud rates in communication protocols.

This tool transforms frequency values ranging from Hertz to Gigahertz into precise time units. It automatically breaks down the result into milliseconds (ms), microseconds (µs), and nanoseconds (ns), allowing engineers to visualize the time domain scale without manual decimal shifting.

Formulas

The relationship is an inverse proportionality:

T = 1f

Where:

T = Period (seconds)
f = Frequency (Hertz)

Units scale inversely:

1 kHz → 1 ms (10^-3 s)
1 MHz → 1 µs (10^-6 s)
1 GHz → 1 ns (10^-9 s)

Reference Data

Frequency	Period (T)	Common Application
1 Hz	1 s	Stopwatch / Heartbeat
50 Hz	20 ms	Mains Power (EU/Asia)
60 Hz	16.667 ms	Mains Power (US) / Monitors
1 kHz	1 ms	Audio Reference Tone
44.1 kHz	22.67 µs	CD Audio Sampling
1 MHz	1 µs	Vintage CPU Clocks
100 MHz	10 ns	FM Radio / Fast Ethernet
2.4 GHz	0.416 ns	Wi-Fi / Bluetooth

Frequently Asked Questions

The period is the amount of time it takes for a signal to complete one full cycle (from peak to peak, or zero-crossing to zero-crossing). It is the reciprocal of frequency.

Mathematically, the period approaches infinity. In DC (Direct Current) circuits, frequency is 0 Hz, implying the signal never oscillates.

Modern computers operate at Gigahertz speeds. A 3 GHz processor switches billions of times per second. Dealing with such high speeds requires thinking in nanoseconds (ns) or even picoseconds (ps) to align data arrival times.

Yes. In PWM, the frequency determines the total period length. The "Duty Cycle" then defines how much of that period the signal is High versus Low.