Horse Power

ShortTail · 11-30-07, 08:55 PM

I always hear this on vehicles. Could anyone explain to me how does this work? What I'm thinking is that the horse power that they are saying is about the force the engine can give. So for example, a 1000 horse power engine has force like having 1000 horses pulling at the same time. Is this correct?

postit · 12-01-07, 10:18 PM

I did a report on this in school, horse power was coined by James Watt when he decided to describe the power exerted by a coal mine pony pulling coal loads. Instead of calling it pony power he increased the amount by 50 percent and called it horse power instead. It is equivalent to 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute. There are different definitions and uses for horsepower including mechanical, electrical, boiler, and metric.

11-30-07, 08:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
ShortTail Member Join Date: 11-14-07 Posts: 29	Horse Power I always hear this on vehicles. Could anyone explain to me how does this work? What I'm thinking is that the horse power that they are saying is about the force the engine can give. So for example, a 1000 horse power engine has force like having 1000 horses pulling at the same time. Is this correct?

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12-01-07, 10:18 PM	#2 (permalink)
postit Member Join Date: 12-01-07 Posts: 25	I did a report on this in school, horse power was coined by James Watt when he decided to describe the power exerted by a coal mine pony pulling coal loads. Instead of calling it pony power he increased the amount by 50 percent and called it horse power instead. It is equivalent to 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute. There are different definitions and uses for horsepower including mechanical, electrical, boiler, and metric.