Power
Overview
- Power (physics)Power (physics)In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
, the rate at which work is performed or energy is converted - Electric powerElectric powerElectric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
, the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by a circuit - Human powerHuman powerHuman power is work or energy that is produced from the human body. It can also refer to the power of a human. Power comes primarily from muscles, but body heat is also used to do work like warming shelters, food, or other humans....
, the rate of work performed by a human - Motive powerMotive powerIn thermodynamics, motive power is an agency, as water or steam, used to impart motion. Generally, motive power is defined as a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover. The term may also define something, as a locomotive or a...
, an agent used to create motion - AC powerAC powerPower in an electric circuit is the rate of flow of energy past a given point of the circuit. In alternating current circuits, energy storage elements such as inductance and capacitance may result in periodic reversals of the direction of energy flow...
, power in an alternating current electric circuit - Optical powerOptical powerOptical power is the degree to which a lens, mirror, or other optical system converges or diverges light. It is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length of the device. The dioptre is the most common unit of measurement of optical power...
, the degree to which a lens converges or diverges light - Transmitter power outputTransmitter power outputIn radio transmission, transmitter power output is the actual amount of power of radio frequency energy that a transmitter produces at its output....
, the power used by a radio transmitter - Effective radiated powerEffective radiated powerIn radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
, a standardized theoretical measurement of the power of a radio transmitter - Power spectral density, a real function denoting the power or energy of a signal
- Electrical power industryElectrical power industryThe electric power industry provides the production and delivery of electric energy, often known as power, or electricity, in sufficient quantities to areas that need electricity through a grid connection. The grid distributes electrical energy to customers...
, companies generating electricity for the electrical grid
- Power (philosophy), the ability to control one's environment or other entities
- Political powerPolitical powerPolitical power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
, power over the administration of public resources - Power in international relationsPower in international relationsPower in international relations is defined in several different ways. Political scientists, historians, and practitioners of international relations have used the following concepts of political power:...
, power wielded by politicians in international relations - Power (communication)Power (communication)Power can be described as the capacity of an individual or a group to exert their will over another or others or influence the goals of a relationship. Power is not a characteristic of any one individual, rather, it is defined in terms of relationships and transactions between people...
, the capacity of an individual or a group to exert their will over others - Economic powerEconomic powerThere is no agreed-upon definition of power in economics. At least five definitions of power have been used:*Purchasing power, i.e., the ability of any amount of money to buy goods and services. Those with more assets, or, more correctly, net worth, have more power of this sort...
, a concept in economics for which there is no agreed upon definition- Purchasing powerPurchasing powerPurchasing power is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if you had taken one dollar to a store in the 1950s, you would have been able to buy a greater number of items than you would today, indicating that you would have had a greater purchasing...
, the ability of any amount of money to buy goods and services - Monopoly power, the ability an individual or company to set prices or wages
- Bargaining powerBargaining powerBargaining power is a concept related to the relative abilities of parties in a situation to exert influence over each other. If both parties are on an equal footing in a debate, then they will have equal bargaining power, such as in a perfectly competitive market, or between an evenly matched...
, the ability of players in a bargaining game to influence the outcome - Managerial power, the ability of managers to threaten their employees with penalties for not following orders
- Class powerSocial classSocial classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
, in Marxism, a situation where a minority controls the means of production and is thus able to exploit
- Purchasing power
- IBM Power (software), an IBM systems software operating system enhancement package that provided spooling facilities for the IBM/370
- IBM POWERIBM POWERPOWER is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by IBM. The name is an acronym for Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC....
, a RISC microprocessor architecture developed by IBM - POW-R, a set of commercial dithering and noise shaping algorithms used in digital audio bit-depth reduction
- Power (1986 film), a 1986 film about how political power affects both those who wield it and the people they try to control
- Power (2011 film)Power (2011 film)Power is an upcoming Hindi action-crime thriller film written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and produced by Feroz Nadiadwala under the banner of Base Industries Group...
, an upcoming Bollywood film - The Power (film)The Power (film)The Power is a 1968 film based on the science fiction novel The Power by Frank M. Robinson. It stars George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette.-Plot:...
, a 1968 science fiction film, based on the Frank M.
Quotations
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are always bad men.
Lord Acton, Historical Essays and Studies.
There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
Lord Acton, Letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887.
POWER: The ability to make our fellow humans squirm, sweat and stammer on command. Often regarded as an aphrodisiac; actually a potent laxative that, whenever ingested by people in high places, causes everyone below to run for cover.
Rick Bayan, The Cynic's Dictionary
It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery.
Demosthenes, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 455.
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 456.
There is no surer mark of a low and unregenerate nature than this tendency of power to loudness and wantonness instead of quietness and reverence. To souls baptized in Christian nobleness the largest sphere of command is but a wider empire of obedience, calling them, not to escape from holy rule, but to its full impersonation.
James Martineau, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 456.
Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four