Units of Energy
Description
Examples
Energy has the dimension mass length squared per time squared. The SI unit of energy is the joule, which is defined as a kilogram meter squared per second squared.
Work and heat are physical quantities with the same dimension as energy.
Maple knows the units of energy listed in the following table. The context IT indicates International Table.
Name
Symbols
Context
Alternate Spellings
Prefixes
joule
J
SI *
joules
SI
electronvolt
eV
electronvolts
hartree
E0
Atomic *
hartrees
erg
standard *
ergs
watt_hour
Wh
watt_hours
ton
TNT
tons
calorie
cal
thermochemical *
calory, calories
IT
mean
`15degC`
`20degC`
Calorie
Cal
Calories
British_thermal_unit
Btu
British_thermal_units
`39degF`
`59degF`
`60degF`
therm
te
therms
EU
US
quad
quads
Q_unit
Q_units
Celsius_heat_unit
Chu
Celsius_heat_units
planck_energy
planck *
planck_energies
An asterisk ( * ) indicates the default context, an at sign (@) indicates an abbreviation, and under the prefixes column, SI indicates that the unit takes all SI prefixes, IEC indicates that the unit takes IEC prefixes, and SI+ and SI- indicate that the unit takes only positive and negative SI prefixes, respectively. Refer to a unit in the Units package by indexing the name or symbol with the context, for example, joule[SI] or Cal[thermodynamic]; or, if the context is indicated as the default, by using only the unit name or symbol, for example, joule or Cal.
The units of energy are defined as follows.
An electron volt is defined as 1.60217733×10−19 joule, that is, the product of the charge of an electron in coulombs with a joule per coulomb.
An erg is defined as 1.×10−7 joule.
A watt hour is defined as 3600 joules.
A ton of nuclear equivalent TNT is equal to 1.×109 thermochemical calories.
An EU therm is defined as 105506000 joules.
A US therm is defined as 105480400 joules.
A planck energy is defined as a planck mass times planck length squared per planck time squared.
The Calorie
For each context of the calorie, there exists a unit, the Calorie, that is by definition 1000 times the value. Therefore, a Calorie is a kilocalorie.
A 15 degree Celsius or 20 degree Celsius calorie is approximately the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius to 15.5 or 20.5 degrees Celsius, respectively.
A thermochemical calorie is defined as 4.184 joules.
A International Table calorie is defined as 4.1868 joules.
A mean calorie is 1100 the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water from 0 degrees Celsius to 100 degrees Celsius, and is approximately 4.19002 joules.
British Thermal Units
A 39 degree Fahrenheit, 59 degree Fahrenheit, or 60 degree Fahrenheit calorie is the approximate amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit to 39.5, 59.5, or 60.5 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively.
A thermochemical British thermal unit is defined by the relationship: 1 thermochemical British thermal unit per pound degree Fahrenheit equals 1 thermochemical kilocalorie per kilogram kelvin.
A International Table British thermal unit is defined by the relationship: 1 International Table British thermal unit per pound degree Fahrenheit equals 1 International Table kilocalorie per kilogram kelvin.
A mean British thermal unit is 1180 the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water from 32 degrees Fahrenheit to 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
For the thermochemical, International Table, and mean contexts, there are the following associated units.
A therm is defined as 10000. British thermal units.
A quad is defined as 1.×1015 British thermal units.
A Q unit is defined as 1.×1018 British thermal units.
Celsius Heat Units
A 15 degree Celsius or 20 degree Celsius heat unit is the approximate amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Celsius to 15.5 or 20.5 degrees Celsius, respectively.
A International Table Celsius heat unit is defined by the relationship: 1 International Table Celsius heat unit per pound equals 1 International Table kilocalorie per kilogram.
A thermochemical Celsius heat unit is defined by the relationship: 1 thermochemical Celsius heat unit per pound equals 1 thermochemical kilocalorie per kilogram.
A mean Celsius heat unit is 1100 the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water from 0 degrees Celsius to 100 degrees Celsius.
convert⁡J,dimensions,base=true
mass⁢length2time2
convert⁡1,units,J,kilowatt⁢hour
13600000
convert⁡1,units,J,Btu
2250000023722880951
convert⁡1.0,units,cal,BtuIT
0.003965666831
convert⁡1.0,units,calIT,BtuIT
0.003968320719
convert⁡325,units,J,thermUS
134219216
convert⁡325,units,J,thermEU
134220240
convert⁡22000,units,Q_unitthermochemical,tonTNT
498951607000000009
See Also
convert/dimensions
convert/units
Units
Units/Index
Units/length
Units/mass
Units/time
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