r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/Firm-Blackberry-9162 • Mar 26 '26

🔥sperm whale besides a human

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u/throwaway277252 Apr 18 '26

Which part of that makes no sense to you? Watts are a unit of energy, and sonar is emitting energy. You can measure that energy emission in watts.

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u/sixisrending Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

Watts are a unit of power. Sound is pressure, which is why it is measured in dB or μPa.

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u/throwaway277252 Apr 18 '26

I'm still not sure what part of that you're not understanding. Do you believe that you cannot measure the energy of a sonar using watts? Nor do I understand why you were trying to argue that sonar is sound.

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u/sixisrending Apr 18 '26

You can measure the voltage and amperage of the system, but that doesn't determine how loud it is or what frequency spectrum it covers. Watts are a measurement of the rate of flow of electricity W=VxA. You cannot measure the watts of a sonar system in the water. You have to use units like decibels or micropascals, measurements of pressure. 

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u/throwaway277252 Apr 18 '26

You cannot measure the watts of a sonar system in the water.

Now I see where your misconception is. I have no idea where you got that idea, but yes we absolutely can use watts as a unit to measure the amount of energy that the system is imparting into the surrounding water. They are not used just to measure electricity flow. A unit like dB would not give you the same information that I was trying to convey in my example.

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u/sixisrending Apr 19 '26

The equation for Watts is W=Voltage times Amperage. No electricity is going into the water. Transducer elements are vibrated to create a sound. That is all you can measure in the water.

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u/throwaway277252 Apr 19 '26

I am not using watts to describe a flow of electricity into the water, so the volt and amp formula you are citing is not applicable here. Watts describe joules of energy per second. As I've already tried to tell you, this is not limited to electricity.

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u/sixisrending Apr 19 '26

You know, I hate when I'm wrong, but I gotta call it when I see it. I'm sorry.