Science Fiction

8 readers

1 users here now

This magazine is aimed at fans and creators of sci-fi and related media of all kinds. It includes all content related to the sci-fi genre and only content related to the sci-fi genre. The goal is to build a community for everyone who enjoys science fiction and related topics. This includes the obvious books, movies, and TV shows, but also original writing, the discussion of writing SF, futuristic art and designs, and the science and technologies that inspire the sci-fi genre. **Team Top 20**

founded 1 year ago

How Much Power Is 1.21 Gigawatts, Anyway? The Science Behind Back to the Future (www.syfy.com)

submitted 7 months ago by inkican@kbin.social to c/scifi@kbin.social

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Back to the Future's 1.21 gigawatts sounds huge, but is it? We compare different power levels of common objects to see how much energy a gigawatt really is.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 7 months ago

This article is completely wrong.

Watts doesn't have a time factor at all.

Power is measured in W (Watts).
Energy is measured in J (Joule's), or Wh (Watt-hours) where 1 Wh = 3600 J.

So 1.21GW is enough power to light 12.1 million 100 W bulbs, if you kept them powered for 1s you would use 1.21GJ of energy, which is 3.36MWh.

I can't believe how badly the article gets it wrong.

I'm an engineer, I work with this stuff regularly.