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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

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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.

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[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

1.21gw == output of 1 nuke plant for 1 day == power single home for 100 years

avg lightning = 10gw

[–] Technoguyfication@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Where are you getting those numbers from? First of all, GW is a unit of power, not energy. You can’t “produce 1.21GW in a day” because it’s a measurement of instantaneous power. Some nuclear reactors produce around 1GW(e), which means 1 gigawatt hour per hour.

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

haha, i read the article. its all in there.

[–] ignirtoq@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah, and the article is wrong, though only slightly. They seem to be confusing watts (power, energy over time) with Joules (energy, power times a duration of time). They give a passable definition in the beginning ("energy transfer"), but they seem to misunderstand what the "transfer" part means exactly.

If you find-replace all instances of "watt" with "watt-hour" after that starting definition, it would be more accurate. That's why I say it's only slightly wrong.

[–] po-lina-ergi@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

1.21 gw = output of one nuke plant
1.21 gw × 1 day = (power requirements of a house) × (100 years)

I'm guessing

[–] reflex@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

1.21gw == output of 1 nuke plant for 1 day == power single home for 100 years

avg lightning = 10gw

Whoa, this is heavy.

[–] inkican@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

There's that word again. 'Heavy.' Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?

[–] inkican@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

Save the Clock Tower!