Distinction Between Energy and Power
Although in everyday usage the terms energy and power are essentially synonyms, scientists and engineers distinguish between them. In its technical sense, power is not at all the same as energy, but is the rate at which energy is converted (or, equivalently, at which work is performed). Thus a hydroelectric plant, by allowing the water above the dam to pass through turbines, converts the water's potential energy into kinetic energy and ultimately into electric energy, whereas the amount of electric energy that is generated per unit of time is the electric power generated. The same amount of energy converted through a shorter period of time is more power over that shorter time.
Read more about this topic: Energy, Energy in Various Contexts
Famous quotes containing the words distinction between, distinction, energy and/or power:
“What! Would you make no distinction between hypocrisy and devotion? Would you give them the same names, and respect the mask as you do the face? Would you equate artifice and sincerity? Confound appearance with truth? Regard the phantom as the very person? Value counterfeit as cash?”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)
“A distinction of property results from that very protection which a free Government gives to unequal faculties of acquiring it.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“But often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“Don’t you see what my power does for me? I could sit in on the councils of kings and dictators. It makes me king. It makes me—Nemesis.”
—Lester Cole (1904–1985)