Easily convert megawatts to petawatts with our user-friendly calculator. Instantly determine power equivalencies and streamline your calculations with just a few clicks.
In 1 megawatts there are 1e-9 petawatts. Meanwhile in 1 petawatts there are 1,000,000,000 megawatts. Keep reading to learn more about each unit of measure and how they are calculated. Or just use the Petawatts to Megawatts calculator above to convert any number.
To convert megawatts (MW) to petawatts (PW), follow these simple steps:
Recognize the conversion factor: 1 petawatt is equal to 1.0 × 10^-9 megawatts.
Multiply the number of megawatts you want to convert by the conversion factor: P[PW] = 1.0 × 10^-9 × P[MW].
Simplify the equation: P[MW] = 1,000,000,000 × P[PW].
In summary, to convert megawatts to petawatts, multiply the value in megawatts by 1.0 × 10^-9. Or, if you prefer, divide the value in petawatts by 1,000,000,000.
A megawatt is a unit of power that is equivalent to one million watts. It is commonly used to measure the power output of large-scale electrical systems, such as power plants.
A gigawatt is a unit of power that is equivalent to one billion watts. It is commonly used to measure the power output of large power plants or to describe the energy consumption of cities.
A terawatt is a unit of power that is equivalent to one trillion watts. It is often used to describe the total power output of a country or the global energy consumption.
A petawatt is a unit of power that is equivalent to one quadrillion watts. It is an extremely large amount of power and is typically used to describe the power output of laser systems or to discuss theoretical power limits.
These units of power are all part of the metric system and are used to measure increasing levels of power. A megawatt is one thousand times smaller than a gigawatt, a gigawatt is one thousand times smaller than a terawatt, and a terawatt is one thousand times smaller than a petawatt. Therefore, one petawatt is equal to one million gigawatts, one billion terawatts, or one trillion megawatts.
To provide some context, the power output of a typical nuclear power plant is in the range of hundreds of megawatts, while a large coal-fired power plant may have a power output in the range of gigawatts. The total power consumption of a country, such as the United States, can be in the range of terawatts. As for petawatts, they are mostly theoretical or used in scientific discussions and typically represent extremely high power levels.
To convert megawatts to gigawatts, divide the value by one thousand. To convert megawatts to terawatts, divide the value by one million. To convert megawatts to petawatts, divide the value by one billion.
Currently, there are no practical applications for petawatt-scale power in everyday life. However, researchers and scientists are exploring the potential uses of petawatt lasers for cutting-edge experiments in areas such as fusion energy and high-energy physics.
The Calculate Box tool to convert megawatts to petawatts uses the open source script Convert.js to convert units of measurement. To use this tool, simply type megawatts value in the box and have it instantly converted to petawatts.