Convert Ergs per Second to Petawatts
Convert Ergs per Second (erg/s) to Petawatts (PW) instantly and accurately.
Conversion Formula
PW = erg/s × 1.000000000e-22
About Ergs per Second
An erg per second (erg/s) is the CGS unit of power - exactly 10⁻⁷ W. Despite SI adoption, erg/s persists in astrophysics: the Sun's total luminosity is 3.828 × 10³³ erg/s; a peak supernova radiates ~10⁴³ erg/s - more power than the Sun emits over its 10-billion-year lifetime. X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, and neutron star accretion rates are catalogued in erg/s across decades of archival literature. 1 erg/s = 10⁻⁷ W.
About Petawatts
A petawatt (PW) is 10¹⁵ W. Total solar power intercepted by Earth is ~174 PW. The world's most powerful laser pulses operate at petawatt peak power via chirped pulse amplification (CPA, 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics): China's SULF demonstrated 10 PW in 2019; ELI-NP targets 10 PW. These PW pulses last femtoseconds and create plasma temperatures of billions of kelvin in laboratory targets. Gamma-ray bursts radiate 10²⁴-10²⁷ W at peak - thousands to billions of times the petawatt scale. 1 PW = 10¹⁵ W.
Quick Reference Table
| Ergs per Second (erg/s) | Petawatts (PW) |
|---|---|
| 1 erg/s | 1 × 10-22 PW |
| 2 erg/s | 2 × 10-22 PW |
| 5 erg/s | 5 × 10-22 PW |
| 10 erg/s | 1 × 10-21 PW |
| 25 erg/s | 2.5 × 10-21 PW |
| 50 erg/s | 5 × 10-21 PW |
| 100 erg/s | 1 × 10-20 PW |