What is larger unit than a megawatt?

Answer 1

The following are some common metric prefixes; each represents the indicated factor, thus, a kilowatt is 1000 watts:

kilo: 1,000

mega: 1,000,000

giga: 1,000,000,000

tera: 1,000,000,000,000

Answer 2

Yes, the "orders of magnitude" of watts is as follows:

FemtowattThe femtowatt is equal to one quadrillionth (10−15) of a watt. Technologically important powers that are measured in femtowatts are typically found in reference(s) to radio and radar receivers. For example, meaningful FM tuner performance figures for sensitivity, quieting and signal-to-noise require that the RF energy applied to the antenna input be specified. These input levels are often stated in dBf (decibels referenced to 1 femtowatt). This is 0.2739 microvolt across a 75 ohm load or 0.5477 microvolt across a 300 ohm load; the specification takes into account the RF input impedance of the tuner. PicowattThe picowatt is equal to one trillionth (10−12) of a watt. Technologically important powers that are measured in picowatts are typically used in reference to radio and radar receivers, acoustics and also in the science of radio astronomy. NanowattThe nanowatt is equal to one billionth (10−9) of a watt. A surface area of one square meter on Earth receives one nanowatt of power from a single star of apparent magnitude +3.5. Important powers that are measured in nanowatts are also typically used in reference to radio and radar receivers. MicrowattThe microwatt is equal to one millionth (10−6) of a watt. Important powers that are measured in microwatts are typically stated in medical instrumentation systems such as the EEG and the EKG, in a wide variety of scientific and engineering instruments and also in reference to radio and radar receivers. Compact solar cells for devices such as calculators and watches are typically measured in microwatts. MilliwattThe milliwatt is equal to one thousandth (10−3) of a watt. A typical laser pointer outputs about five milliwatts of light power, whereas a typical hearing aid for people consumes less than one milliwatt. KilowattThe kilowatt is equal to one thousand (103) watts, or one sthene-metre per second. This unit is typically used to express the output power of engines and the power consumption of electric motors, tools, machines, and heaters. It is also a common unit used to express the electromagnetic power output of broadcast radio and television transmitters.

One kilowatt of power is approximately equal to 1.34 horsepower. A small electric heater with one heating element can use 1.0 kilowatt, which is equivalent to the power consumption of a household in the United States averaged over the entire year (8900 kW h divided by 365×24 hours). Also, kilowatts of light power can be measured in the output pulses of some lasers.

A surface area of one square meter on Earth receives typically one kilowatt of power of sunlight from the sun (on a clear day at mid day).

MegawattThe megawatt is equal to one million (106) watts. Many events or machines produce or sustain the conversion of energy on this scale, including lightning strikes; large electric motors; large warships such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, and submarines; large server farms or data centers; and some scientific research equipment, such as supercolliders, and also in the output pulses of very large lasers. A large residential or commercial building may consume several megawatts in electric power and heat.

The productive capacity of electrical generators operated by a utility company is often measured in megawatts. A typical wind turbine (or wind energy converter) has a power capacity of 1 to 3 MW. On railways, modern high-poweredelectric locomotives typically have a peak power output of 5 or 6 MW, although some produce much more. The Eurostar, for example, consumes more than 12 MW, while heavy diesel-electric locomotives typically produce/consume 3 to 5 MW. U.S. nuclear power plants have net summer capacities between about 500 and 1300 MW.

The earliest citing of the megawatt in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a reference in the 1900 Webster's International Dictionary of English Language. The OED also states that megawatt appeared in a 28 November 1947 article in the journal Science (506:2).

GigawattThe gigawatt is equal to one billion (109) watts or 1 gigawatt = 1000 megawatts. This unit is sometimes used for large power plants or power grids. For example, by the end of 2010 power shortages in China's Shanxi province were expected to increase to 5--6 GW[8] and the installed capacity of wind power in Germany was 25.8 GW.[9] The largest unit (out of four) of the Belgian Nuclear Plant Doel has a peak output of 1.04 GW. TerawattThe terawatt is equal to one trillion (1012) watts. The total power used by humans worldwide (about 16 TW in 2006) is commonly measured in this unit. The most powerful lasers from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s produced power in terawatts, but only for nanosecond time frames. The average strike of lightning peaks at 1 terawatt, but these strokes only last for 30 microseconds. PetawattThe petawatt is equal to one quadrillion (1015) watts and can be produced by the current generation of lasers for time-scales on the order of picoseconds (10−12 s). One such laser is the Lawrence Livermore's Nova laser, which achieved a power output of 1.25 PW (1.25 x 1015W) by a process called chirped pulse amplification. The duration of the pulse was about 0.5 ps (5 x 10-13 s), giving a total energy of 600 J, or enough energy to power a 100 W light bulb for six seconds.

Answer 3

A Kilowatt is a thousand times less than a megawatt, just as a kilobyte is a thousand times smaller than a megabyte, and a megabyte is a thousand times smaller than a gigabyte, and so on...