How do you explain horse power and Torque on an automobile?

Answer 1

to make this simple torque gets you moving horse power keeps you moving.

Answer 2

real simple- torque is what gets it moving, horsepower sustains. So cars with low horsepower & high torque pull out better at lower engine speeds, whereas some cars with high horsepower & low torque need to be in the higher ranges of RPM to feel the power. Example would be a typical 4 cylinder would have no power at lower RPMs, whereas a V8 would have power all the way through, genrally with high torque numbers. Thats why horsepower is not a true measure, but more marketing hype.

Answer 3

You really can't measure "horsepower" on an engine or motor. A horsepower figures is strictly a calculation. Torque (lb/ft) X rpm (peak torque)/5252= HP. Years ago, someone declared that 1 horsepower was equil to 33,000 ft lb of work per minute (or something like that).

Torque is actually a measured force of a twisting action. An example would be a diesel engine. Let's do the math. We'll assume it has 900 lb/ft of torque @ 3,000 rpm. Plugging in these values yields 514 hp. Let's do a gasoline engine. 410 lb/ft @4800 rpm yields 374 hp. What I don't understand is peak torque and peak horsepower can be at different points on the rpm scale.

Answer 4

Torque is work, Horsepower is the rate of the work being done. Think of it as carrying bricks. The more bricks that one can carry--is torque. how fast you walk across the street is the horsepower. If you are looking to tow, spin your wheels off a stop at low engine speed --that is torque. You use torque more that horsepower for most diving conditions. Peak torque is achieved at low and med engine speed--Idle to 3000 rpms. Peak horsepower it achieved at the upper band of the engine 3000 rpms---7000rpms.

Answer 5

horse power is the actual amount of power your engine will have ,,torque is the amount of power that is applied to the wheels on the ground,,a car can have 300 horse power but can apply 325 ft pounds of torque,,,like mopars,,they sometimes run more torque than horse power,,that the best explanation i can give,,good luck hope this help,s.

Answer 6

An extremely simplified version:

Horsepower - overall speed of the car

Torque - pulling power, aka acceleration

Again, that is a very very simplified answer.

Answer 7

If you really want to know.....

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhorsepower.html