Megawatt or gigawatt hours may be used in larger buildings or for industrial applications. Electricity used by a home is typically measured in kilowatt hours, or kWh, meaning 1000 watts being applied over a period of one hour. He defined the unit within the system of units being used at the time, and his definition was adopted in 1908.Ĭurrent use: Kilowatts are used worldwide, typically to express the output power of engines and the power of electric motors, tools, machines, and heaters. This was first proposed in 1882 by Sir Charles William Siemens, an engineer and entrepreneur, who suggested the use of Watt's name as a unit of power. History/origin: The base unit of the kilowatt is the watt, which was named after a Scottish inventor named James Watt. As is consistent with SI units, the prefix kilo- means that a kilowatt equals one thousand watts or one thousand joules per second. The base unit of the kilowatt is the watt, which was named after Scottish inventor James Watt. Kilowattĭefinition: A kilowatt (symbol: kw) is a unit of power in the International System of Units (SI). The watt as a unit of power should not be confused with its energy counterpart, the watt-hour (and all its multiples/submultiples). The absolute watt was adopted as the SI unit of power in 1960.Ĭurrent use: As the SI derived unit of power, the watt in all its multiples and submultiples is used in many applications worldwide from radio transmission to use in the electric power industry. 1 absolute watt is equal to 1.00019 international watts. These were used until 1948 when the General Conference on Weights and Measures re-defined the watt to absolute units, using only mass, time, and length. In 1908, the "international" definitions were defined, with Siemens' definition being adopted as the international watt. Please visit power conversion to convert all power units. What is Kilowatt Kilowatt is a metric system power unit. It was first proposed in 1882 by William Siemens who defined it as "the power conveyed by a current of an Ampere through the difference of potential of a Volt." This was the definition used at the time within the existing system of units. To convert watts to kW, multiply the watt value by 0.001 or divide by 1000. History/origin: The watt is named after James Watt, a Scottish inventor. It is defined as 1 joule per second and is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The appliance power ratings suggested are indicative only.Definition: A watt (Symbol: W) is the SI (International System of Units) derived unit of power. Here’s our guide to the current ratings of commonly-used domestic appliances. Alternating current (AC) is used to supply things like houses and buildings and mains connected appliances. However, in alternating current (AC) the electric current changes direction at 50 times per second (50 Hz or hertz) in the UK supply.Īn example of direct current would be a battery powered torch. For direct current (DC) the electric current flows only in one direction. The labels ‘AC’ and ‘DC’ are used to describe the types of current flow in a circuit. In terms of the hosepipe example, this would refer to the amount of water being released. The higher the wattage is, the more power and output from the appliance. WattsĪmps multiplied by Volts equals Watts, which is the measurement used to determine the amount of energy. In keeping with the earlier example, you could think of volts as the water pressure in the hosepipe, which makes the water flow. Volts are the measurement used to determine how much force is needed to cause the electric current to flow. The more water flowing through the hosepipe, the stronger the current is. You should think of electric current as the flow of water through a hosepipe. Watts / Volts = AmpsĪmps measure the flow of electricity as an electric current. Watts to Amps FormulaĪlternatively to using the calculator, here are some basic equations which allow you to calculate the missing information on your own. Find out how to convert Amps to Watts here or how to calculate Ohm's Law here.
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