Eli5: What is a watt?

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I want to go camping but use a generator to run a computer. A laptop and desktop need different watts. You have to put the right amount of watts into each device. Different outlets have different watts. The watts in a cigarette lighter are different than the watts in a generator.

What is a watt? What do different watt numbers mean? What happens if I have a device sending too many watts or not enough to a device? Is it critical or just ideal to match them?

In: Engineering

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Watt is a measurement of energy over time. Devices will “pull” as much wattage as they need, up to the generator’s limit.

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