In 1 watts there are 1.00000e-15 petawatts. Meanwhile in 1 petawatts there are 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts. Keep reading to learn more about each unit of measure and how they are calculated. Or just use the Petawatts to Watts calculator above to convert any number.
* Values rounded to 6 decimal places for readability
To convert watts (W) to petawatts (PW), use the SI prefix rule: peta = 10¹⁵. That means 1 petawatt = 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts.
Conversion formula (W to PW):
Quick examples:
Tip: When converting watts to petawatts, you’re moving to a much larger unit, so the number gets much smaller.
A watt (W) is a unit of power. It shows how fast energy is used or produced. One watt equals one joule per second.
A petawatt (PW) is a very large unit of power. It’s used for huge energy scales in science and engineering.
1 petawatt equals 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts (10^15 W).
To convert watts to petawatts, divide by 10^15.
Formula: PW = W ÷ 1,000,000,000,000,000
The conversion factor is 1 PW = 10^15 W.
That means 1 W = 10^-15 PW.
There are 0.000000000000001 PW in 1 watt.
That’s 1 × 10^-15 PW.
There are 1,000,000,000,000,000 W in 1 petawatt.
That’s 1 × 10^15 watts.
Watts fit everyday items. Petawatts fit extreme, short-lived peaks in lab settings.
Petawatts keep numbers shorter when power is huge. Writing 2 PW is easier than writing 2,000,000,000,000,000 W. This helps when comparing very large power levels.
Not in a practical way. Homes and cities use power far below one petawatt. They’re usually measured in watts, kilowatts (kW), megawatts (MW), or gigawatts (GW).
Write watts as a number times a power of ten, then subtract 15 from the exponent.
Example: 3.2 × 10^6 W = 3.2 × 10^(6-15) PW = 3.2 × 10^-9 PW
A watt measures power (rate of energy use). A watt-hour measures energy (total amount used).
No. The power stays the same. Only the unit and the number format change.
Mix-ups happen with zeros and exponents. Common errors include:
The Calculate Box tool to convert watts to petawatts uses the open source script Convert.js to convert units of measurement. To use this tool, simply type a watts value in the box and have it instantly converted to petawatts.