- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
swartzer wrote:
Actually, a watt is one joule of energy over one second. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt)
Looking at the definition:
1 W = 1 J/s
which gives us, when both sides of the equation are multiplied by one second,
1 W*s = 1 J
In other words, like Andrew said, one joule is the amount of energy that is produced by the power of one watt during the period of on second.
Perhaps the confusion arises over how to translate the English word "over" in equations. In Andrew's sentence, "A joule is one watt of power for one second", "over" means "for the period of", i.e., it refers to multiplication. When you wrote "a watt is one joule of energy over one second", perhaps you meant "over" to refer to the division sign in the equation 1 W = 1 J/s.
It seems it's better stick to equations to impart the exact meaning of physical units.
