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Units of
Power and Energy
Energy
In the MKS metric system, A Joule is the main unit of
Energy. This can also be refered to as a unit of work
If you had a current of one watt for one second, the
energy used would be one Joule.
An erg is the unit of energy in the CGS metric
system. An erg is one ten millionth of a
Joule.
Power
Power is the Rate of doing work.
One of the older units of Power was based on an even
earlier source of power. This was the Horse Power. It was intended to be the power that a good
horse could put out over a reasonable time.
If a horse was worked this hard now there might be questions of whether
it was being worked too hard.
When James Watt improved the steam engine, he needed a
unit that people would understand.
Nowadays this unit has largely been replaced by the
watt. There are roughly 746 watts in a
horsepower.
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Units
