T
he unit of power, the watt, is named after
Scottish engineer James Watt (1736–1819)
for his contributions to the development of
the steam engine in the 18th century. It was first
recognized in 1882, and was adopted into the
International System of Units (SI) as the official
measurement of power in 1960.
Meanings according to the Oxford
English Dictionary:
1 The
ability to do something or act
in a particular way, especially as
a faculty or quality
2 The capacity or ability to direct or
influence the behavior of others
or the course of events
3 Physical strength and force
exerted by something or someone
4 Energy that is produced by
mechanical, electrical, or other
means and used to operate a
device
5 Mathematics: the number of
times a certain number is to be
multiplied by itself: 2 to the
power of 4 equals 16
>> Combined heat and power
generation is the simultaneous
production of energy in the form
of electricity and heat.
Active power
MUSCLE POWER
Pushing power
Before the watt, various
other units were used to
measure power, all of
which translated, more or
less, into English as
“horsepower.” Today, the
British imperial unit of
horsepower is still used
alongside watts as a
supplemental unit of
measurement.
Coincidentally, it was
James Watt who first
adopted the term
“horsepower” in the 18th
century!
Did you know? Burning a pound
of coal releases more energy than
detonating a pound of TNT! But
because the TNT releases its
energy more quickly, it delivers
far more power than the coal.
A dynamometer is a device used to
measure torque and rotational speed
that engine can be calculated.
Positive power
MENTAL POWER
DYNAMIC POWER
Symbolic power
POWER
Horse power
Power station
“Great power involves
great responsibility.”
of an engine. From this, the power of
36 I MTU Report 01/13
Power boost
Unit: 1 watt = 1 joule/second
Power
thrust
ENGINE POWER
POWERFUL
Maximum power
Power engineering
COMBINED HEAT & POWER
POWER GRID
Power P [Latin: potentia]
Brake power
Power reserve
Pulling power
WIND POWER
Physical power
Power-up
Franklin D. Roosevelt
According to the International Energy
Agency (IEA), the world uses about
143,851,000,000,000 kilowatt – hours of
energy per year, as of 2008. That’s a
lot of power being generated at every
moment!
“Being powerful is
like being a lady. If
you have to tell
people you are, you
aren’t.” Margaret Thatcher
“Nearly all men can
stand adversity, but if
you want to test a
man’s character, give
him power.” Abraham Lincoln
>> Typing the
word “power”
in Google
produces
roughly
3,530,000,000
results.
Common mistake: because
the word for “power” in
German is “Kraft,” many
Germans think Kraft is a
German food company. In fact,
however, Kraft Foods was
founded in Chicago in 1903.
HOW MUCH POWER
> The Sun – 383,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kW
> The combined turbines of the Hoover Dam – 2,080,000 kW
> A typical nuclear power plant – 2,000,000 kW
> MTU 20V 8000 naval engine – 10,000 kW
> MTU 12V 4000 mining engine – 1,425 kW
> A typical wind turbine generator – 1,000 kW
> ’67 Corvette Sting Ray L88 engine – 324 kW
> A typical Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine – 100 kW
> 1908 FordModel T engine – 15 kW
MTU
MTUReport
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