Should the term Watt's Law be used for $P = IV$?

Question

I'm revising some electrical curriculum for a technical training program. In the curriculum students have to calculate values using Ohm's law and the equation

$$\text{Power = Current * Voltage}$$ or $$P = IV.$$

Some of my coworkers, who do not have science backgrounds, have started calling the equation P = IV "Watt's Law". When I told my co-worker it was appropriate to call P = IV the power equation she told me I was crazy and "everyone is calling it Watt's Law" according to her internet research.

Am I going crazy? I've only every heard P= IV referred to as the power equation (as it applies to circuits). I've never used the term "Watts Law" in the 10+ years I've been studying and teaching physics. An if I were to call something Watts law it would be in reference to content in an energy unit not an electricity unit.

Answer 1

I would stick with the power equation. "Watt's Law", while that may be what "everyone is calling it", is not the proper term.

From wiki:

A scientific law is a statement based on repeated experimental observation that describes some aspect of the world. A scientific law always applies under the same conditions, and implies that there is a causal relationship involving its elements.

While the equation may use Watts as the unit of power, it includes electrical and thermal work - James Watt was a scientist who aided the steam engine, not electricity.

Answer 2

Historically speaking, calling the electrical power formula "Watt's law" is wrong. Again from Wikipedia, the origins of the unit of power now known as a Watt were due to James Watt's work in the field of mechanical power (specifically steam engines), predating most work on quantifying electrical energy.

The formal definition of a watt is in mechanical terms, and is a rate of energy expenditure (power) equal to one Joule per second, thus to one Newton-meter per second and thus to the power required to maintain acceleration of a 1kg mass of 1m/s² (or to maintain velocity of 1m/s of any mass given an opposing force of 1N). Watt's actual work on power was done in foot-pounds per minute, developing the concept of "horsepower" by empirical analysis of a horse turning a mill wheel. 1hp ~= 33,000 foot-pounds per minute, which when all units are converted to SI is approximately 746 watts.

In fact, the electrical units of measure are defined in terms of mechanical units, not the other way around (because those concepts were known and defined before electricity was well-understood). The ampere is defined as the current (rate of electron flow) which, when passing through two parallel conductors of arbitrary length placed 1 meter apart in a vacuum, induces a force of 2 ten-millionths (2*10^-7) of a Newton of electromagnetic force between them, thus equating force and current. A volt is then formally defined as the potential inherent in a circuit carrying one ampere of current exerting one watt of power. So, the original form of the relationship is V=W/A.

Answer 3

The term Watts Law is used extensively the the electrical field. This is to pay homage to the scientist that invented it James Watt. It is widely used in conjunction with Ohm's Law. It seems wrong to me for physics students to claim the use of these terms as wrong because they are unfamiliar to them, if in the fields of engineering and trades the most commonly used terms to describe these equations is not the power equation or resistance equation but Ohm's Law and Watt's Law. Although physics is the foundation of these disciplines, most physics courses are of broad scope and only touch on the subject matter. The fields of electrical engineering and electrical trades training are highly specialized and both use the terminology of Ohm's and Watt's laws. As a person with 17 years of experience in the electrical field and being an educator myself I find it humorous that it would be considered wrong to refer to them with their PROPER NAMES given the original question was in regards to an electrical training program. Just my two cents.