by 
The Curious Bag
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A gigahertz, abbreviated as GHz, is a unit measurement of how many operations a computer processor can perform every second. The current standard definition is that one GHz equals the capability of performing one billion operations per second.
History
While modern computer processor speeds are measured in the billions of operations per second, the first computer processors were only able to perform a few operations per second.
Function
A computer processor can be thought of as the brain of a computer system. The faster the processor is, or the more GHz it has, the more operations it can perform, and the faster the computer will run.
Types
Most new computer processors have a speed rating of over 2 GHz, unless they are used for specialized equipment. Most processors for the consumer market do not go faster than 3.4 GHz, because of the costs associated with developing a faster processor.
Identification
The speed of a processor can be determined in a couple of different ways. If you have purchased a new processor, the speed of the processor in GHz will be listed on the packaging. All computers also internally store GHz speeds in systems information files.
Potential
While today's fastest processors can perform trillions of operations per second, faster processors are being developed all the time.
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