Why are car engines rated in horse power and how much is a horse power?

Answer 1

The term horsepower was invented by the engineer James Watt. Watt lived from 1736 to 1819 and is most famous for his work on improving the performance of steam engines. We are also reminded of him every day when we talk about 60-watt light bulbs.

The story goes that Watt was working with ponies lifting coal at a coal mine, and he wanted a way to talk about the power available from one of these animals. He found that, on average, a mine pony could do 22,000 foot-pounds of work in a minute. He then increased that number by 50 percent and pegged the measurement of horsepower at 33,000 foot-pounds of work in one minute. It is that arbitrary unit of measure that has made its way down through the centuries and now appears on your car, your lawn mower, your chain saw and even in some cases your vacuum cleaner.

Answer 2

Some countries use kW or Ps.

In brief it's a measure of how many horses it would take to achieve the same amount of work rate output.

Obviously no amount of horses could pull a car at 202mph like a V8 2.9 lite engine in a Ferrari F40 can. Unless they ran over angel falls in Venezuella and there was an excessively low air pressure at that instant enabling 200mph freefall possible for 460 horses and a car.

Answer 3

Well it is a form of measurement
1 horse power = it the amount of power it takes 1 horse to move a weight for 1 hour
Just why it is measured in horse power was untill the engine came along there was just horses.

Answer 4

To augment the answers of the other responders:
"Power" is the ability to do work. Non-automotive engines/motors/powerplants are also often rated in horsepower or the metric equivalent: kilowatts. At great risk of oversimplification, an engineer or group of engineers calculate the power necessary to do the work required for a selected task. Based upon this requirement, an engine of the specified horsepower is chosen and subsequently installed during production.

Answer 5

An average horse can lift 2000 pounds one foot in one munute rope over pulley, One Horse Power. Totally inaccutate Kilowatts energy out put is better measure. Then the other biggie torque = resistance to stopping rotation.

Answer 6

What horsepower means is this: In Watt's judgement, one horse can do 33,000 foot-pounds of work every minute. So, imagine a horse raising coal out of a coal mine as shown above. A horse exerting 1 horsepower can raise 330 pounds of coal 100 feet in a minute, or 33 pounds of coal 1,000 feet in one minute, or 1,000 pounds 33 feet in one minute. You can make up whatever combination of feet and pounds you like. As long as the product is 33,000 foot-pounds in one minute, you have a horsepower.

Answer 7

Horsepower is only one of several ways to measure engine output. In some countries, power is measured in KW - kilowatts.