Power

The unit of measure for power is the watt, named for James Watt who invented improvements that made steam engines practical around the time of the American revolution.

A mass market WiFi receiver can detect a signal with a power level as low as one 100 billionth of a watt. Here are some other power levels for comparison:

Power is the rate at which energy is used in generating radio waves, light, heat mechanical work, etc. For example:

Power is a rate, and the definition of a watt is one joule of energy per second.


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