milli and microseconds

A millisecond is 1,000 times longer than a microsecond.

---

The Breakdown:

1. Microsecond (µs):

   · One millionth of a second.

   · Written in scientific notation: 1 µs = 0.000001 s or 1x10⁻⁶ s.

   · Example: It takes about 1-10 microseconds for a camera flash to fire.

2. Millisecond (ms):

   · One thousandth of a second.

   · Written in scientific notation: 1 ms = 0.001 s or 1x10⁻³ s.

   · Example: A human eye blink takes about 100-400 milliseconds.

The Comparison:

· 1 millisecond = 1,000 microseconds

· 1 microsecond = 0.001 milliseconds (one-thousandth of a millisecond)

Analogy:

If you think of one second as one full hour:

· A millisecond would be 3.6 seconds.

· A microsecond would be a mere 0.0036 seconds (or 3.6 milliseconds).

A Handy Scale of Time (from short to long):

Unit of Time Symbol In Seconds 

In summary: Millisecond is the longer unit. You can fit 1,000 microseconds into a single millisecond.