People tend to consider Energy and Power to be the same. There is a great confusion between energy and power. Some persons think ‘Energy and Power’ as synonyms. Well, one can not be faulted for finding a similarity between Energy and Power as they are interrelated.
But, mind you, energy and power are not the same!. They cannot be used interchangeably.
As you read and understand this article, you’ll know more about the difference between energy and power.
Energy Definition
We do have a general or common sense of what electricity and it would help to know the precise definition.
The term 'energy' is referred to as simply the ability/capacity to do/perform work.
Energy is the capability to do something. It is what one delivers.
As an example, energy is used for moving or pushing things. The thing might be a car moving down the highway or lighting the night.
If an object is capable of doing work, it is said to have energy. Therefore, energy can be transferred from one form to another, such that the object which do the work, loses energy and the object on which work is done gains it.
Energy has several different measuring units which are joules, BTUs, newton-meters, calories and even watt-hour when talking about electrical energy.
Note that a thousand watts for one hour, is one kilowatt-hour.
They’re the same amount of energy.
Power Definition
Power is the rate at which an object performs an activity.
In science, power is a measure, which determines the speed of performing work.
Power is the rate of energy per unit time.
The standard unit of power is Watt, which equals to Joules per second.
Power is a quantity associated with time. For example, in a 100m race three athletes A, B and C started running in which A completed the race in 14 secs, B in 9 secs and C in 12 secs. The three athletes all use the same energy in completing the race but the difference is in their power applied by them.
Here's a difference between energy and power.
Energy indicates how much work a person can do. Whereas power is a representation of how quickly work can be done.
Energy changes form. It is neither generated or destroyed but it is turned from one form to another, according to the law of conservation of energy. Power does not change form. It can't be transformed from one body to another. It only measures how fast the change has happened.
Energy can be conserved but power cannot be stored.
Conclusion
From the above explanation, it is clear to you now the difference between energy and power. Energy is the total amount of work done, and power is how fast you can do it. That is, power is energy per unit of time. Power is watts. Energy is watt-hours.
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