What is Not a Unit of Energy?

Horse Power is not a unit of energy. Energy can be simply described as the ability to perform tasks. It can appear in several forms, including kinetic, potential, electrical, chemical, radioactive, thermal, etc. It falls within the categories of renewable and non-renewable energy. The SI unit of energy is the joule (J), which bears the name of James Prescott Joule and his studies on the mechanical equivalent of heat because energy is defined in terms of work.

It's interesting that James Prescott Joule, a British scientist whose work helped develop the idea of energy, had his name preserved as the name of this worldwide unit. When we examine the unit in its simplest form, 1-N.m equals 1 Joule. Energy in CGS is measured in erg. 10-7 J is the same as the erg. The amount of work carried out across a distance of one centimeter by one dyne is known as an erg. The Joule is also the MKS Unit of Energy.

Units of Energy

There are typically several units used to measure energy, and several different things can precede energy units. Typical units include:

• British thermal unit (BTU).
• Horsepower.
• Kilowatt-hour (kWh).
• Calorie.
• Electron Volts (eV).
• Hartree (the atomic unit of energy).
• Rydberg units.
• Barrel of oil.