Convert Terawatts to Petawatts
Convert Terawatts (TW) to Petawatts (PW) instantly and accurately.
Conversion Formula
PW = TW × 0.001
About Terawatts
A terawatt (TW) is 10¹² W. All of human civilisation consumes ~17-18 TW (electricity + heat + transport combined); global electricity generation alone is ~9 TW. Solar irradiance intercepted by Earth is ~174,000 TW; photosynthesis captures ~130 TW. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) fusion laser produces pulses of ~500 TW lasting nanoseconds. High-power laser facilities for nuclear physics and ICF research routinely exceed 1 TW in ultrashort pulse regimes. 1 TW = 10¹² 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
| Terawatts (TW) | Petawatts (PW) |
|---|---|
| 1 TW | 0.001 PW |
| 2 TW | 0.002 PW |
| 5 TW | 0.005 PW |
| 10 TW | 0.01 PW |
| 25 TW | 0.025 PW |
| 50 TW | 0.05 PW |
| 100 TW | 0.1 PW |