A total of about 180,000 terawatts of solar power reaches Earth’s surface, of which about 0.06% is used by plants for photosynthesis. Of the energy that goes to photosynthesis, about 1% ends up stored in plant matter (including wood). (recall that 1 watt = 1 jule/s; 1 terawatt = 10^12 watts.)
A. Calculate the total amount of energy that becomes stored in plant matter each second.
B. Suppose that power stations generate electricity by burning plant matter. If all the energy stored in plants could be converted to electricity, what average power, in terawatts, would be possible?

Question

A total of about 180,000 terawatts of solar power reaches Earth’s surface, of which about 0.06% is used by plants for photosynthesis. Of the energy that goes to photosynthesis, about 1% ends up stored in plant matter (including wood). (recall that 1 watt = 1 jule/s; 1 terawatt = 10^12 watts.)
A.	Calculate the total amount of energy that becomes stored in plant matter each second.
B.	Suppose that power stations generate electricity by burning plant matter. If all the energy stored in plants could be converted to electricity, what average power, in terawatts, would be possible?