# Cycles Per Second vs Hertz **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712 "2012-12-11T16:41:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/21 "2012-12-13T01:26:21Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > My biggest beef is that it sounds plural, so I feel like a knob saying “1 Hz”. Good point. Actually it’s singular, so why don’t we say “440 hertzes”? > [@TriPolar](#): > > I thought his first name was Richard. Who’s Dick Hertz? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/22 "2012-12-13T02:26:54Z")
Oh, and in regard to who (Heinrich) Hertz was and why he is sufficinetly notable to have a unit of measurement named after him: he essentially laid the experimental groundwork (including modifying Maxwell’s equations) for modern electrodynamics and the photoelectic effect, giving the way forward for both special relativity and quantum mechanics. He also did work in continuum mechanics and tribology on contact stresses that every mechanical designer and stress analyst is familiar with (Hertzian stresses). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/23 "2012-12-13T10:18:15Z")
Aside: Is it just me, or do many names give sort of sound right for what they stand for? Like an onamonapia for units. Unless I’m just used to them, but I find many units named after people to sound _right._ Volt, totally sounds electric. Amp, reminds me of amplify. Perfect. Newtons, it even has the word “ton” in it. Even Fahrenheit and Celsius sounds temperature related. Hertz, ohms, joules, roentgens, watts, tesla, etc. I think we’re lucky their last names wasn’t something like “Gryzbowski”. Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s just a lifetime of association and conditioning? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/24 "2012-12-13T12:15:54Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Good point. Actually it’s singular, so why don’t we say “440 hertzes”? It’s also plural. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/25 "2012-12-13T13:51:21Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Hertz allows for more effective use of puns in everyday conversation ([example](http://xkcd.com/594/)) which is an intrinsic moral good unto itself. Product Developer: We need a name for our new electronic gadget. Marketting Guy: Yeah, something high-tech. How about some astronomical term coupled with some electronics term. [enters this into term-randomizing computer (TRC)] TRC: Hertz-Uranus ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/26 "2012-12-13T13:58:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Aside: > > Is it just me, or do many names give sort of sound right for what they stand for? Like an onamonapia for units. Unless I’m just used to them, but I find many units named after people to sound right. I recently worked with a grad student named “Stalnaker”. Everyone agreed that he needed to get a unit named after him, probably something electrical. Field, maybe? I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten a name to stick to “newtons per coulomb”. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/27 "2012-12-13T14:10:55Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Oh, and in regard to who (Heinrich) Hertz was … He also did work in continuum mechanics and tribology He studied tribbles? Sounds like trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/28 "2012-12-13T14:12:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I recently worked with a grad student named “Stalnaker”. Everyone agreed that he needed to get a unit named after him, probably something electrical. Field, maybe? I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten a name to stick to “newtons per coulomb”. He should make sure to define the base unit as something really small, so that everyone has to refer to “mega-stalkers” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/29 "2012-12-13T14:21:06Z")
Sorry about mho. Little knowledge is dangerous. I learned of it through Finnegans Wake. Be prepared for obligatory. Be prepared… Also something on Hertz, now that I think of it. His whole head, particularly his ear, as a Universal broadcasting apparatus… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/30 "2012-12-13T16:04:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I recently worked with a grad student named “Stalnaker”. Everyone agreed that he needed to get a unit named after him, probably something electrical. Field, maybe? I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten a name to stick to “newtons per coulomb”. “Well, there’s yer problem, I’m picking up over 200,000 stalnakes.” ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/31 "2012-12-13T16:12:13Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > It’s also plural. Besides, since he’s German, wouldn’t it be “hertzen”? ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/32 "2012-12-13T16:38:40Z")
I nominate “stalnaker” to be defined as a furlong/fortnight. “Officer, I’m sure I was under the 167 kilostalnaker speed limit” ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/33 "2012-12-13T18:38:40Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Why did we switch from CPS to Hz? > More importantly, why? And even more importantly, _why_? ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712/34 "2012-12-13T18:52:40Z")
**Tangent** , that was masterful, right down to the italics. Legit LOL! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cycles-per-second-vs-hertz/643712.md?page=1)