What is the difference between kwh and joules

We will try to explain the difference in this post. Energy is a measure of how much work it takes to do something. It takes a fixed amount of energy to lift a can of soda from a table to your mouth. Your body burns calories, which is a form of chemical energy, to be able to lift that soda to your mouth. It turns that energy into gravitational energy, that is, if you dropped the soda from the height it is at your mouth it would create a louder thud when it hit the floor than if you knocked the soda off the table.

The soda can has more potential energy when it is up high at your mouth than down low on the table. The scientific unit of energy is the Joule. It takes about 1 Joule of energy to lift a can of soda from a table to your mouth. It will take the same amount of energy: 1 Joule. Power, on the other hand, is how much energy gets used how quickly. It is a rate. To use an automotive analogy, it is equivalent to how fast you are driving.

If you lift a can of soda to your mouth in one second, then you are exerting one Joule per second, also known as one Watt, of power. One thousand Watts is one kilowatt, abbreviated kW. If you use one kilowatt of power for an hour, you have used 1 kilowatt-hour, abbreviated kWh, of energy.

One kilowatt-hour is equivalent to the energy of 1, joules used for 3, seconds or 3. If you were to use 1kW for one hour, you have 1kWh. You can find out more about the difference between kilowatts and kilowatt-hours in our handy guide. Joules have already been mentioned in this guide — remember we said it takes around one joule of energy for a person to lift a can of cola? A joule describes the amount of energy used when a force of one newton is applied to move an object over a distance of one metre.

Being able to calculate how many watts or kilowatts are in a kilowatt hour can help you to understand your energy usage. A kWh is simply 1,W used over 60 minutes. So for example, a watt light bulb that stays on for 10 hours would use 1kWh. The number of watts in a kWh will obviously depend on how long the appliance or device is on for, so there are some calculations that you may need to do. Firstly, check the wattage of the device. For instance, the packaging of a lightbulb will provide a wattage, such as 60W.

Therefore, divide the number of watts by 1, to take the number from watts into kilowatts. In our example, 60 divided by 1, is 0. Around 3. This means there are around 3. Immediate pricing access to all major UK gas suppliers. With our help. We often secure better rates without having to switch suppliers too.

The time you've selected is in the past. Please pick a time in the future. Author: James Longley. What is a watt? What is a kilowatt and a kilowatt hour? What is a joule? How many watts are in a kilowatt hour? How many joules of energy are in a kilowatt hour? Business Gas. Business Electricity. Business Energy. Business Water.

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