Yottawatts

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.