Wattage, and tonnage, and conversation, and...arg. Numbers.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-23 08:26pm

Question from the resident Scientifically Ignorant Person.

Say something has a weapon that produces so many terawatts. Can I convert this into yield in terms of tons of TNT? How?

Or am I completely fucked up?

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2002-10-23 09:03pm

A ton of TNT is a measurement of energy. You cannot convert between energy and power without throwing in a few other factors.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2002-10-23 09:08pm

You know, this information is readily available online and in textbooks.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-23 09:09pm

I do not have access to textbooks, and the online sources use big words.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2002-10-23 09:11pm

Just to add in for all you future sci-fi writers, here is probably the best way to decide wether to rate a future weapon's output in energy or power.

Use energy (Joules, Megatons, etc) for pulse type weapons, including turbolasers, ion cannons, bullets, 16 inch shells, torpedos, etc. Each pulse has a finite energy and last for a finite time.

Use power (Watts, horsepower, etc) for beam type weapons, including lasers and phasers. Since these weapons have a continues output, the energy is dependent upon the amount of time the weapon is fired.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-23 09:19pm

But! I know! The bullet energy is...KINETIC! Right? So it's a different energy. Type. Thing.

And...my question...

Post by **weemadando** » 2002-10-23 09:31pm

The Jack T. Chick Parody Archive!!!!

http://216.131.88.114/chick/

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-10-23 09:36pm

weemadando wrote:The Jack T. Chick Parody Archive!!!!

http://216.131.88.114/chick/

Are you in the right thread?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-23 09:41pm

So....2 billion terawatts of power would come out to roughly...

47 tons?

...wait, that makes no sense!

Post by **weemadando** » 2002-10-23 09:49pm

XaLEv wrote:
weemadando wrote:The Jack T. Chick Parody Archive!!!!

http://216.131.88.114/chick/
Are you in the right thread?

FUCK! That was meant to be a new topic...

MOD!!!

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-23 09:50pm

Goddamn, I need help!

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2002-10-23 10:04pm

For your energy conversions needs

http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/energy

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2002-10-23 10:05pm

Cyril wrote:Question from the resident Scientifically Ignorant Person.

Say something has a weapon that produces so many terawatts. Can I convert this into yield in terms of tons of TNT? How?

Or am I completely fucked up?

One ton of TNT is worth roughly 4.2 GJ, and while GJ are a unit of energy rather than power, GJ/s is a valid unit of power. Therefore, a 1 terawatt weapon would be equivalent to roughly 240 tons of TNT per second (don't leave out that last part; without it, it's total bullshit).

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-10-24 08:54am

Master Converter program 'nuff said, does all that shit easily

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-10-24 09:09am

http://www.onlineconversion.com/energy.htm

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-24 06:26pm

One last question.

A teraton has 12 times as many zeroes as a ton, right?

Ignorant_Boy · Post by **Ignorant_Boy** » 2002-10-24 06:31pm

Yep.
Deca = E1
Hecto = E2
Kilo = E3
Mega = E6
Giga = E9
Tera = E12
Peta = E15
Exa = E18

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-10-24 06:36pm

Code: Select all

yotta - 1x10^+24 - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	
zetta - 1x10^+21 - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	
exa   - 1x10^+18 - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000	
peta  - 1x10^+15 - 1,000,000,000,000,000	
tera  - 1x10^+12 - 1,000,000,000,000	
giga  - 1x10^+9  - 1,000,000,000	
mega  - 1x10^+6  - 1,000,000	
kilo  - 1x10^+3  - 1,000	
hecto - 1x10^+2  - 100	
deka  - 1x10^+1  - 10	
---------------------------- 1
deci  - 1x10^-1  - 0.1	
centi - 1x10^-2  - 0.01	
milli - 1x10^-3  - 0.001	
micro - 1x10^-6  - 0.000 001	
nano  - 1x10^-9  - 0.000 000 001	
pico  - 1x10^-12 - 0.000 000 000 001	
femto - 1x10^-15 - 0.000 000 000 000 001	
atto  - 1x10^-18 - 0.000 000 000 000 000 001	
zepto - 1x10^-21 - 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001	
yocto - 1x10^-24 - 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-24 06:55pm

sooo....if 2 billion terawats had...oh shit, that's like...24 zeroes? going by the english definetion of a billion; i.e. 2x as many zeroes as a million?

And, thus, it's like a yottawatt?

...right?

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-10-24 07:01pm

Cyril wrote:sooo....if 2 billion terawats had...oh shit, that's like...24 zeroes? going by the english definetion of a billion; i.e. 2x as many zeroes as a million?

And, thus, it's like a yottawatt?

...right?

No. 2 billion terawatts = 2 zettawatts.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-10-24 08:00pm

But...wait...are you using the English billion, which is 1,000,000,000,000, or the American billion, which is 1,000,000,000...?

Or do I not know what i'm talkin about?

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-10-24 08:58pm

Cyril wrote:But...wait...are you using the English billion, which is 1,000,000,000,000, or the American billion, which is 1,000,000,000...?

Or do I not know what i'm talkin about?

You don't know what you're talking about.

Look at the chart HDS provided.

kilo = thousand = 1,000
mega = million = 1,000,000
giga = billion = 1,000,000,000

and so on.
SI uses the 'American' definitions.

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Wattage, and tonnage, and conversation, and...arg. Numbers.

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