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Let's look at measuring and comparing durations of time in seconds.

There are 60 minutes in 1 hour.

There are 60 seconds in 1 minute.

Think about these questions:

• What can you do in 1 minute?
• What can you do in 30 seconds?
• What can you do in 1 second?

It's important to be able to measure time accurately in seconds. We also need to think about how we record time if an activity takes longer than 60 seconds, or 1 minute.

Compare these amounts:

• 65 seconds is the same as 1 minute, 5 seconds.
• 90 seconds is the same as 1 minute, 30 seconds.
• 187 seconds is the same as 3 minutes, 7 seconds.

Working out amounts in seconds

How many seconds are there in 5 minutes, 37 seconds?

You can work this out by counting up in lots of 60 seconds, to represent whole minutes, and then adding on the extra seconds.

60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60 = 300 seconds

300 + 37 = 337 seconds

Comparing time durations in minutes and seconds

Two friends run a lap of a playground. It takes Poppy 168 seconds to run all the way round. Imran runs round in 2 minutes, 58 seconds.

Who was quickest?

In order to work this out, we need to change Imran's time into seconds, so we can compare it with Poppy's time.

Imran's time: 2 minutes, 58 seconds = 178 seconds

Remember, 1 minute = 60 seconds, so 2 minutes is 120 seconds.

120 + 58 = 178.

Poppy's time: 168 seconds

Poppy was therefore quickest, by 10 seconds.

Think you know about measuring time in seconds? Test your knowledge with this quiz!