What is a Watt?

A watt was formally defined at an international conference in 1889. It is named after James Watt (1736–1819), a Scottish inventor famous for his steam engines that powered the Industrial Revolution. The symbol for watts is a capital letter W. A thousand watts is called a kilowatt, or KW.

A Watt is defined as: "A standard unit of power. It is equal to one joule of energy per second. For electrical power, one watt is equal to one ampere of current per second." Another way to define it is: "One watt is the rate at which work is done when an object is moving at one meter per second against a force of one newton."

Does that clear it all up? For most of us - - - hardly. For the purposes of our site, we will simply say that a watt (W) is a unit of measuring a rate of energy conversion. We have all heard of watts. We see them listed on light bulbs, nameplates of appliances, and advertisements everywhere. We know that higher "wattage" means that more electricity is being used. When more electricity is used, we pay more on our bills. Lower the watts used, and we lower our bills.