Time Converter

Time conversion sounds trivial until the units stop dividing evenly. This converter uses the second as its base, the one truly fixed unit in the group.

Exact conversions:

• 1 minute = 60 seconds
• 1 hour = 3,600 seconds
• 1 day = 86,400 seconds
• 1 week = 604,800 seconds

Approximate (averaged):

• 1 month ≈ 30.4375 days = 2,629,800 seconds
• 1 year ≈ 365.25 days = 31,557,600 seconds

For a sense of scale:

• One million seconds: about 11.6 days
• One billion seconds: about 31.7 years
• An average human lifespan: roughly 2.5 billion seconds

Everything down to the week is exact, because those units are defined as fixed multiples of the second. Months and years are where it gets messy. A month can be 28, 29, 30, or 31 days, so any single factor for “a month” is just an average. This converter uses 30.4375 days, a year split into twelve equal parts.

The year carries its own fudge. A calendar year is 365 days, but Earth actually takes about 365.25 days to circle the Sun, which is why we add a leap day every four years. Using 365.25 folds that quarter-day back in. The practical takeaway: trust conversions up to a week as exact, and treat anything counted in months or years as a close approximation, not a precise figure.