what is horsepower? how do you determine it? why is it called horsepower? can someone please just explain horsepower in general to me i’m so confused why doesn’t it have anything to do with horses? ):
In: Engineering
Power is a measure of how much energy can be used or transferred in a given amount of time.
Fundamentally, it boils down to force * distance / time. In an engine or motor that force is usually rotational, so it’s torque * rate of rotation. Different units have different constant scaling factors.
horsepower came from the marketing department trying to sell steam engines to people that used horses to drive their machinery. A more sane unit of power is watts. 1 watt = 1 newton of force applied for 1 meter of distance in 1 second of time. 1 watt is also equal to 1 amp at 1 volt.
1 horsepower is about 746 watts.
Latest Answers