Convert Watts to Petawatts
Convert Watts (W) to Petawatts (PW) instantly and accurately.
Conversion Formula
PW = W × 1.000000000e-15
About Watts
The watt (W) is the SI unit of power - 1 J/s - named after James Watt (1736-1819). Familiar power levels: smartphone charging 5-65 W; laptop 15-100 W; microwave 700-1,200 W; electric kettle 2,000-3,000 W; human resting metabolism ~80 W; peak sprint ~2,000 W. The now-obsolete 100 W incandescent bulb is replaced by a 10-15 W LED producing the same light. In AC circuits, reactive power uses the var and apparent power the VA, both derived from watts. 1 W = 1 J/s = 1 kg·m²/s³.
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
| Watts (W) | Petawatts (PW) |
|---|---|
| 1 W | 1 × 10-15 PW |
| 2 W | 2 × 10-15 PW |
| 5 W | 5 × 10-15 PW |
| 10 W | 1 × 10-14 PW |
| 25 W | 2.5 × 10-14 PW |
| 50 W | 5 × 10-14 PW |
| 100 W | 1 × 10-13 PW |