Lotus Live Guide to Units
For information about unit conversion, systems of measurement, significant figures, and orders of magnitude, see this Lotus Live Guide to Units.
Important Conversion Factors
Energy Conversions
- 1 kWh = 3412 Btu
- 1 Quad = 1 Quadrillion Btu (1015 Btu)
- 1 Btu (British Thermal Unit) = 1,055 Joules = 778 ft-lb = 252 cal
Power Conversions
- 1 W = 1 J/s = 3.14 Btu/h
- 1 hp = 550 ft-lb/s = 2545 Btu/h = 746 W
Orders of Magnitude
- 0.001 kWh = 1 Wh (watthour)
- 1 kWh = 1 kWh (kilowatthour-103 Wh)
- 1,000 kWh = 1 MWh (megawatthour-106 Wh)
- 1,000,000 kWh = 1 GWh (gigawatthour-109 Wh) ("giga" or "jigga")
- 1,000,000,000 kWh = 1 TWh (terawatthour-1012 Wh)
- 1,000,000,000,000 kWh = 1 PWh (petawatthour-1015 Wh)
What Does It All Mean?
- When you're sitting, your body is using 60 W. Running, 400 W.
- When your car is going 65 mph, it's using about 33 kW.
Water
- 1 gallon of water = 8.34 lbs of water
- 1 gallon = 3.7854 liters
- 1 Btu = energy to raise one lb of water by 1?F
Useful Conversion Tools
iConvert is built for the iPhone, but is a very easy conversion utility for anyone on the web.
Author: Nick Enge
Contributors:
References: Energy: Its Use and the Environment by Hinrichs & Kleinbach
Special Thanks:
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