Electricity is measured in units of power called Watts, named to honor James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. A Watt is the unit of electrical power equal to one ampere under the pressure of one volt.
One Watt is a small amount of power. Some devices require only a few Watts to operate, and other devices require larger amounts. The power consumption of small devices is usually measured in Watts, and the power consumption of larger devices is measured in kilowatts (kW), or 1,000 Watts.
Electricity generation capacity is often measured in multiples of kilowatts, such as megawatts (MW) and gigawatts (GW). One MW is 1,000 kW (or 1,000,000 Watts), and one GW is 1,000 MW (or 1,000,000,000 Watts).
Examples:
Convert \(0.0058\) mW into kW.
\[0.0058 mW \times \frac{1\, kW}{1,000,000\, mW} = 0.0000000058\, kW\]
The ohm (\(\Omega\)) is a unit of electrical resistance, name after German physicist George Ohm. It is correlated to voltage (\(V\)) or the force of electricity, and the electric current, measured in amperes (\(A\)).
Examples:
1. Convert \(12.85\, k\Omega\) to \(\Omega\)
\[12.85\, k\Omega\times \frac{1000\, \Omega}{1\, k\Omega}= 12,850\, \Omega\]
2. \(874\, \mu A\) to \(A\)
\[874\, \mu A \times \frac{1\, A}{1,000,000\, \mu A}= 0.000874\, A\]
3. \(82\) MV to V
\[82\, MV \times \frac{1,000,000\, V}{1\, MV}= 82,000,000\, V\]
