this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Power is energy per unit of time. Energy is power over a period of time. A lightning strike is about 1 GJ of energy. But it happens in a split second, so the power is far higher, say 100 GW. That is the output of 100 nuclear power plants. But only for 0.01 seconds.
TNT is even more extreme. It can detonate in microseconds, so release its energy in a fraction of a millisecond. 1 kg contains about 4 MJ of energy, released in about 10 microseconds, a power of about 300 GW. That is about as much power as all of the USA combined needs.
Thanks.
You are off by a factor of ~250, it's 1.21 Gigawatts