Convert Minute to Second (min → s)

Converting minutes to seconds is straightforward: multiply by the conversion factor. Follow these three steps to do it by hand or in your head.

1. 1
   Take your value in minutes

   Start with the number of minutes (min) you want to convert.
2. 2
   Multiply by 60

   The conversion factor from min to s is 60. Multiply your value by this number.
3. 3
   Read the result in seconds

   The result is your value in seconds (s).

Multiply the value in minutes by 60. For the reverse direction, multiply by 0.016667.

• ✓1 min = 60 s. 60 min = 1 h.
• ✓Use min (not m, which is metre) to avoid confusion.
• ✓Standard calendar software uses 5, 15, 30, 60 min blocks.

• ✗Writing 1:30 meaning 1 minute 30 seconds versus 1 hour 30 minutes — always add units.
• ✗Using "m" for minute in scientific context — m is metre; use min.
• ✗Over-estimating minute durations — 5 min feels longer when stressed.

What is the Minute?

The minute equals exactly 60 seconds and is the universal unit for short durations in daily and professional life. Its base-60 origin traces to ancient Babylonian astronomy, where the sexagesimal (base 60) system was used for celestial calculations because 60 has many divisors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60), making fractions easy. The minute is the standard for cooking times, exercise durations, meeting lengths, train and flight schedules, and music tempos (BPM). The minute relates to the second (1 min = 60 s) and the hour (60 min = 1 h). Despite proposals to decimalize time during the French Revolution (10-hour days with 100-minute hours), the sexagesimal system endured. The minute also has subdivisions in geography (1° latitude = 60 minutes of arc) and astronomy.

• Meeting, appointment and class durations
• Cooking times (pasta 10 min, bread 30 min)
• Exercise interval timing

What is the Second?

The second is the base SI unit of time. Since 1967, it has been defined by atomic physics: the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom. This makes the second extraordinarily reproducible — modern atomic clocks based on optical transitions can keep time to a few parts in 10¹⁸. The second is the foundation of all time measurements: the minute (60 s), the hour (3,600 s), the day (86,400 s). It is also fundamental in physics — speeds (m/s), accelerations (m/s²), frequencies (Hz = 1/s), and Planck's constant all reference the second. International civil time, GPS, and the internet's time synchronization all depend on cesium-based atomic seconds. The second relates to the millisecond (1,000 ms = 1 s), the microsecond, and the nanosecond.

• Everyday timekeeping
• Scientific and engineering measurements
• Sports timing (100 m sprint in ~10 s)