When did Wattage become other than RMS?

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benb said:
I was tempted to add "average" to my one-word post, but no one says an incandescent light bulb uses 100 watts average power, they just say 100 watts, and that's the amount of power it uses.
No, it is the average power. Power is not an amount; it is a rate, the rate of using energy. People usually say 'power' when they actually mean 'average power' and in most cases this does not matter. Problems can emerge when people start talking about 'maximum power' when they actually mean 'maximum average power'.

scottjoplin said:
If power is Vrms^2/R..................I'm confused..........
Average power is Vrms^2/R. Power is V^2/R, so for sine wave drive it varies from 0 to twice the average.
 
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