Ok the first thing that went through my mind when I saw the word Yottawatts was that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine uses the phrase…yadda, yadda, yadda…

But its actually about powers of ten and electrical power (watts). I was researching the amount of solar insolation the earth receives from the sun (174 Petawatts) and ran across this page in WikiPedia full of variations on my namesake.

By the way, Petawatts has nothing to do with my disdain for the sometimes crazy tactics of the animal rights group.

So have a few watts on me:

Yoctowatt (10^-24 watt)

Zeptowatt (10^-21 watt)

• ~10 zW – Tech: approximate power of Galileo
  space probe’s radio signal (when at Jupiter)
  as received on earth by a 70 meter DSN
  antenna.

Attowatt (10^-18 watt)

• 1 aW – Phys: approximate power scale at which operation of nanoelectromechanical
  systems is overwhelmed by thermal fluctuations.

Femtowatt (10^-15 watt)

• 2.5 fW – Tech: minimum discernible signal at the antenna terminal
  of a good FM radio
  receiver

• 10 fW (-110 dBm) – Tech: approximate lower limit of power reception
  on digital spread-spectrum cell phones

Picowatt (10^-12 watt)

• 1 pW – BioMed: average power consumption of a human cell
• 2.5 pW – BioMed: Sound intensity per square centimeter for average
  human threshold of hearing at 1000 Hz; 1 phon
  or 0 dB SPL

• 150 pW – BioMed: Power entering a human eye from a 100 watt lamp 1
  km away

Nanowatt (10^-9 watt)

• 2-15nW – Tech: Power consumption of some PIC Microcontroller chips
  such as the PIC12F683 when in "sleep" mode. (actual consumption
  when sleeping depends on voltage supply used, see data sheet, Electrical
  Characteristics section).

Microwatt (10^-6 watt)

• 1 µW – Tech: approximate consumption of a quartz
  wristwatch

• 3 µW – Astro: cosmic
  microwave background radiation per square meter

Milliwatt (10^-3 watt)

• 5 mW – Tech: laser in a CD-ROM
  drive

• 5-10 mW – Tech: laser in a DVD
  player

• 100 mW – Tech: laser in a CD-R
  drive

Watt

1 Watt = 1 amp x
1 volt of electrical power

• 5 W – Legal: maximum power output of a CB
  or hand-held radio transmitter

• 20-40 W – BioMed: approximate power consumption of the human brain
• 30-40 W – Tech: the power of the typical household tube light
• 60 W – Tech: the power of the typical household light
  bulb

• 82 W – Tech: peak power consumption of Pentium
  4 CPU

• 100 W – BioMed: approximate average power used by the human
  body

• 120 W – Tech: power output of 1 m² solar
  panel in full sunlight

• 253 W (2,215 kWh/year)
  - Geo: per capita average power use of the world in 2001

• 290 W – Units: approximately 1000 BTU/hour
• 300-400 W – Tech: typical PC
  power supply

• 400 W – Tech: legal limit of power output of an amateur
  radio station in the United
  Kingdom

• 500 W – BioMed: power output of a person working hard physically
• 745.7 W – Units: 1 horsepower
• 750 W – Astro: the amount of sunshine falling on a square metre of
  the Earth’s surface on a clear day

• 900 W – BioMed: power output of a healthy human (non-athlete)
  averaged over the first 6s of a 30s cycle sprint. ^[1]

Kilowatt (10³ watt)

• 1.366 kW – Astro: power received from the Sun
  at the Earth‘s
  orbit by one
  square metre

• 1.39 kW (12.2 MWh/year) – Geo: per capita average power use in the U.S.
  in 2003

• 1.5 kW – Tech: legal limit of power output of an amateur
  radio station in the United
  States

• up to 2 kW – BioMed: approximate short time power output of
  sprinting professional cyclists

• 1 kW to 2 kW – Tech: heat output of a domestic electric kettle.
• 3.3-6.6 kW – Eco: average photosynthetic
  power output per square
  kilometer of ocean
  [2]

• 30 kW – power generated by the four motors of GEN H-4 one man helicopter
• 16-32 kW – Eco: average photosynthetic power output per square
  kilometer of land
  [3]

• 50 kW to 100 kW – Tech: ERP
  of clear
  channel AM

• 40 kW to 200 kW – Tech: approximate range of power output of
  typical automobiles

• 167 kW – Tech: power consumption of UNIVAC
  1 computer

• 250 kW – Tech: highest allowed ERP
  for an FM
  band radio
  station in the United
  States.

• 250 kW to 800 kW – Tech: approximate range of power output of ‘Supercars‘

Megawatt
(10⁶ watt)

• 0.7MW – Tech: Power output of Bugatti
  Veyron Supercar

• 1.3 MW – Tech: power output of P-51
  Mustang fighter aircraft

• 2.5 MW – BioMed: Peak power output of a Blue
  Whale

• 3 MW – Tech: Mechanical power output of a diesel locomotive
• 10 MW – Tech: Highest ERP
  allowed for a UHF
  television
  station.

• 10.3 MW – Geo: Electrical power output of Togo
• 190 MW – Tech: peak power output of a Nimitz
  class aircraft carrier

• 900 MW – Tech: electric power output of a CANDU
  nuclear reactor

• 959 MW – Geo: average electrical power consumption of Zimbabwe
  in 1998

The productive capacity of electrical generators operated by utility
companies is often measured in MW. Few things can sustain the transfer or
consumption of energy on this scale; some of these events or entities include:
lightning strikes, naval craft (such as aircraft
carriers and submarines),
engineering hardware, and some scientific research equipment (such as the supercollider
and large lasers).

For reference, about 10,000 100-watt lightbulbs or 5,000 computer systems
would be needed to draw 1 megawatt. Also, 1 MW equals approximately 1341 horsepower.
Modern high-powered diesel-electric
railroad locomotives
typically have a peak power output of 3–5 MW, whereas a typical modern nuclear
power plant produces on the order of 500–2000 MW peak output.

Gigawatt (10⁹ watt)

• 1.21 GW – Sci Fi: power needed to run the Flux
  Capacitor in Back
  to the Future to travel though time

• 1.3 GW – Tech: electric power output of Manitoba
  Hydro Limestone hydroelectric
  generating station

• 2.074 GW – Tech: peak power generation of Hoover
  Dam

• 2.1 GW – Tech: peak power generation of Aswan
  Dam

• 3 GW – Tech: approximate peak power generation of the world’s
  largest nuclear
  reactor

• 12.6 GW – Tech: electrical power generation of the Itaipu
  Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric
  power plant

• 12.7 GW – Geo: average electrical power consumption of Norway
  in 1998

• 18.2 GW – Tech: electrical power generation of the Three
  Gorges Dam in China
  when complete

Terawatt (10¹² watt)

• 1.7 TW – Geo: average electrical power consumption of the world in 2001
• 3.327 TW – Geo: average total (gas, electricity, etc) power
  consumption of the U.S.
  in 2001

• 13.5 TW – Geo: average total power consumption of the human world
  in 2001

• 44 TW – Geo: average total heat flux from earth’s interior (See
  figure in http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/7/16/1)

• 75 TW – Eco: based on global net
  primary production (= biomass
  production) via photosynthesis

• 50 to 200 TW – Weather: rate of heat energy release by a hurricane
• In "Star Trek: The Next Generation", the warp core of the
  fictitious Enterprise-D was able to produce a maximum power output into the
  Terawatt range.

Petawatt (10¹⁵ watt)

• 1.25 PW – Tech: world’s most powerful laser
  pulses (claimed on 23
  May 1996 by
  Lawrence
  Livermore Laboratory).

• 1.4 PW – Geo: estimated heat flux transported by the Gulf
  Stream.

• 4 PW – Geo: estimated total heat flux transported by Earth‘s
  atmosphere
  and oceans
  away from the equator
  towards the poles.

• 174.0 PW – Astro: total power received by the Earth
  from the Sun

Exawatt (10¹⁸ watt)

• 1 EW – Astro: Approximate power generated between the surfaces of
  Jupiter and its moon Io due to Jupiter’s tremendous magnetic field.

Zettawatt (10²¹ watt)

• 135 ZW – Astro: Approximate luminosity
  of Wolf 359

Yottawatt (10²⁴ watt)

• 5.3 YW – Tech: Power produced by the Tsar
  Bomba fusion bomb, the most powerful device ever made

• 386 YW – Astro: Luminosity
  of the Sun

Greater than Yottawatt

• 3.31 × 10³¹W – Astro: Approximate luminosity
  of Beta
  Centauri

• 1.23 × 10³²W – Astro: Approximate luminosity
  of Deneb

• 5 × 10³⁶W – Astro: Approximate luminosity
  of the Milky
  way galaxy.

• 1 × 10⁴⁵W – Astro: Approximate luminosity
  of a Gamma
  ray burst

• 3.63 × 10⁵²W – Phys: The Planck
  power, the basic unit of power in the Planck
  units.