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A '''nanosecond''' (ns) is one billionth of a second (10-9 s).
The [[word]] nanosecond is formed by the prefix nano and the [[unit]] second. Its [[symbol]] is ns.
A nanosecond is equal to 1000 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picosecond picoseconds] or 1/1000 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsecond microsecond]. Because the next SI unit is 1000 times larger, times of 10-8 and 10-7 seconds are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of nanoseconds.
Times of this [[magnitude]] are commonly encountered in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications telecommunications], pulsed lasers and some areas of electronics.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanosecond]
[[Category: General Reference]]