Gigajoule to Electron Volt
GJ
eV
Conversion History
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Quick Reference Table (Gigajoule to Electron Volt)
| Gigajoule (GJ) | Electron Volt (eV) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 6,241,509,074,460,762,607,776,240,980.93044589988696589617 |
| 3.6 | 22,469,432,668,058,745,387,994,467,531.34960523959307722622 |
| 27 | 168,520,745,010,440,590,409,958,506,485.12203929694807919662 |
| 40 | 249,660,362,978,430,504,311,049,639,237.21783599547863584684 |
| 100 | 624,150,907,446,076,260,777,624,098,093.0445899886965896171 |
| 278 | 1,735,139,522,700,092,004,961,794,992,698.66396016857651913553 |
| 1,000 | 6,241,509,074,460,762,607,776,240,980,930.44589988696589617097 |
About Gigajoule (GJ)
A gigajoule (GJ) equals one billion joules and is the standard unit for household and industrial energy billing in several countries, particularly for natural gas. A typical Australian home consumes about 30–60 GJ of gas per year for heating and cooking. Large industrial processes, district heating systems, and bulk fuel deliveries are quoted in gigajoules. One gigajoule equals approximately 278 kWh of electrical energy, or about 27 liters of petrol.
An average Australian household uses about 40 GJ of natural gas annually. A commercial jet burns roughly 15 GJ of aviation fuel per flight-hour.
About Electron Volt (eV)
An electron volt (eV) is the kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating through an electric potential difference of one volt — equal to approximately 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ joules. It is the natural energy unit of particle physics, atomic physics, and chemistry, where joules would yield unwieldy powers of 10. Photon energies, ionisation energies, bandgaps in semiconductors, and masses of subatomic particles (via E = mc²) are all expressed in eV, keV, MeV, or GeV.
Visible light photons carry 1.8–3.1 eV of energy. The proton rest mass is 938 MeV. The Large Hadron Collider accelerates protons to 6.5 TeV (6.5 × 10¹² eV).
Gigajoule – Frequently Asked Questions
How many gigajoules of natural gas does a typical home use per year?
In cold-climate countries, 30–60 GJ per year is common for heating and hot water. A well-insulated modern home in Germany might use 20 GJ; a drafty older home in Canada might use 100+ GJ. Australians use about 40 GJ/year on average. Each gigajoule costs roughly $8–$15 depending on local gas prices.
What is the energy content of common fuels in gigajoules?
One tonne of coal holds roughly 24–30 GJ depending on grade. One tonne of crude oil contains about 42–44 GJ. One tonne of LNG holds roughly 54 GJ. One tonne of dry firewood stores about 16 GJ. These figures explain why oil and gas are preferred for transport — they pack more gigajoules per kilogram than solid fuels.
How does a gigajoule compare to a kilowatt-hour?
One gigajoule equals 277.78 kWh. At an average electricity price of $0.15/kWh, one gigajoule of electrical energy costs about $42. The same gigajoule from natural gas costs $8–15. This price gap is the main reason gas boilers remain popular for heating in countries with cheap pipeline gas.
How many gigajoules does a commercial aircraft burn per flight?
A single-aisle jet like the Boeing 737-800 burns about 10–12 GJ per flight hour. A six-hour transatlantic flight on a wide-body aircraft can consume 300–400 GJ of jet fuel. The entire global aviation industry uses roughly 12 billion gigajoules of fuel per year — about 3% of total world energy consumption.
Can you express a human lifetime of food consumption in gigajoules?
At 2,000 kcal/day (8.4 MJ/day), a person consumes about 3.07 GJ of food energy per year. Over 80 years, that is roughly 245 GJ — equivalent to about 6,000 liters of petrol. Your entire lifetime food energy would fit in a medium-sized fuel tanker, which is a humbling thought.
Electron Volt – Frequently Asked Questions
Why do particle physicists use electron volts instead of joules?
Because subatomic energies in joules have absurdly small exponents — a visible-light photon carries about 3 × 10⁻¹⁹ J, but a convenient 1.9 eV. The electron volt is scaled to the quantum world, making numbers human-readable. It also doubles as a mass unit (via E = mc²): a proton is 938.3 MeV/c², far easier to work with than 1.673 × 10⁻²⁷ kg.
How much energy in electron volts does visible light carry?
Visible light photons range from about 1.65 eV (deep red, 750 nm) to 3.1 eV (violet, 400 nm). Green light, where the human eye is most sensitive, sits around 2.3 eV. Ultraviolet photons start at 3.1 eV and can exceed 100 eV in the extreme UV. These energies are why UV can damage DNA (breaking molecular bonds of 3–5 eV) while visible light cannot.
What is the relationship between electron volts and semiconductor bandgaps?
A semiconductor's bandgap — the minimum energy to free an electron from its bond — is expressed in eV. Silicon has a bandgap of 1.12 eV, gallium arsenide 1.42 eV, and gallium nitride 3.4 eV. The bandgap determines which wavelengths of light a solar cell can absorb and what color an LED emits. Lower bandgap means longer-wavelength (redder) light.
How many electron volts does the Large Hadron Collider produce?
The LHC accelerates protons to 6.5 TeV (6.5 × 10¹² eV) per beam, giving collisions a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. That sounds enormous, but 13 TeV is only about 2 microjoules — the kinetic energy of a flying mosquito. The power of the LHC lies in concentrating that energy into a space a million times smaller than an atom.
How do you convert electron volts to joules?
Multiply by 1.602 176 634 × 10⁻¹⁹. So 1 eV = 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ J, 1 keV = 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁶ J, and 1 MeV = 1.602 × 10⁻¹³ J. This conversion factor is exactly the elementary charge in coulombs, because an electron volt is defined as the energy gained by one electron charge crossing one volt of potential.