-6 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: xkcd: Quantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but your average outlet pumps out around 120 watts. So 20 kW is 20.000 watts, way more than enough to kill you.
Comment by crosph at 06/08/2014 at 05:33 UTC*
20 upvotes, 3 direct replies
You may be thinking volts - outlets are typically around 120V or 240V.
Where I am, we use 240V, and most circuits have a maximum loading of 10A, which is 2400W. Either way, while it's the current that kills [citation needed] I don't think there are many ways to *safely* deliver 2400W to a person, never mind 20000W... (edit: I was thinking electricity, further discussion in this thread puts it into better perspective)
To answer the original question, 20kW is about enough to run 20 or so microwaves at once, or about five electric ovens, or charge about 5000 smartphones.
Comment by yetanotherx at 06/08/2014 at 06:11 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Wall outlets in North America put out 120 volts, not watts. Watts is the power used by the device plugged into the wall, volts is the electrical potential in the circuit (think water pressure as an analogy). A light bulb consumes 60W. You could power 333 light bulbs with 20kW. An AC unit consumes around 1kW. You could power 20 AC units with 20kW.