Electric power is typically measured in what units?

Question : Electric power is typically measured in what units? When we talk about powering appliances in our home with electricity, we are not usually interested in how much energy an appliance uses per sec., but rather the rate of energy use, or in other words, how much energy per unit time the appliance draws. This quantity is called the "power": Power = Energy / Time In particular, for electrical power we use the "Watt" (named after the scientist James Watt): 1 Watt = 1 Joule / Second. It is important not to confuse power and energy, although they are closely related. Just remember that power is the rate at which energy is delivered, not an amount of energy itself. With simple algebra, can turn the formula above for power around to solve for energy instead, and write: Energy = Power x Time. For example, using the definition of the word watt given above, a 100 watt light bulb is a device that converts 100 joules of electrical energy into 100 joules of electromagnetic radiation (light) every second. If you leave a 100 watt light on for one hour, that is, 3600 seconds, then the total energy you used was: Energy = Power x Time = (100 Joules/Second) x (3600 Seconds) = 360,000 Joules Watts are a very convenient unit when working with appliances, people like work with another unit, called the "kilo-watt hour": 1 kilo-watt hour = the energy delivered by 1000 watts of power over a one hour time period. read less