Final answer:
A 'W' stands for watt, which is the unit that measures the rate of electric energy usage, equivalent to one joule per second. It is used to quantify how quickly energy is consumed by an electrical device.
Step-by-step explanation:
The unit of power represented by the abbreviation 'W' is known as the watt. The watt is defined as the amount of electric energy used in one second. More technically, 1 watt equals 1 joule per second (1 W = 1 J/s). In practical terms, this means that a device with a power of 100 watts uses 100 joules of energy each second it is operating.
Therefore, when we talk about electrical devices, their power consumption rate is indicated in watts, and it tells us how quickly they are using or emitting energy.
The kilowatt-hour (kWh) is another common unit related to watts, which measures electric energy. One kilowatt-hour is equivalent to the amount of energy used by a 1,000-watt appliance running for one hour and is equal to 3.6 million joules (3.6 x 10ΒΆ J).
This is the unit that power companies use on electric bills to represent the total energy consumed over a given time interval.