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Glossary
Watt
A watt (symbol W) is the SI unit of power—the rate at which energy is transferred or work is done.
On one line: 1 W = 1 J/s (one joule per second).
In industrial electrical terms, wattage is how you express how fast equipment consumes or delivers energy. For DC (and simple resistive loads), power is P = V·I (watts = volts × amps). For AC, you’ll often care about real power as P = V·I·PF where PF is power factor, because motors and inductive loads draw current that doesn’t all turn into usable work.
In mechanical terms, watts connect directly to force and motion: P = F·v (power equals force times velocity) and for rotating equipment P = τ·ω (torque times angular speed). That’s why motor nameplates, VFD sizing, pump curves, heaters, and compressor loads are commonly expressed in watts or kilowatts—because it’s the “how hard/how fast” unit.