Say I got a steam engine that was rated at 5000 horsepower and put on tracks going one way and secured it to 5000 horses going the other way. Assuming the horses and then engine were both preforming at full power, who would begin to pull who?
2007-06-27 06:21:57 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Locomotive.
In realiety, 2horses have 3horsepower in car/truck/train standards.
I won't do the math right now but the train actualy has more power than 5000 horses(IF they could do that)
2007-06-27 08:19:20 · answer #1 · answered by Crazygirl ♥ aka GT 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Horse power, or hp, is a measure of power, the ability to do deliver a certain amount of energy in a given time. This says little about force. Force would be the thing to determine who would win the tug o' war. Theoretically, I could have something that's 1hp generate more force than something that has 1000 hp. Like a 3000hp diesel locomotive would easily outpull a 3000hp dragster, because that's what it is designed for. But the dragster can easily out-accelerate the locomotive and go much faster even though it's rated at the same power.
I do think the horses would win. However, I could design a 5000hp machine that could outpull the horses.
2007-06-27 13:36:12 · answer #2 · answered by LG 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
With out knowing the friction coefficient of the train wheels on the track or hooves on dirt it is hard to say. For the sake of speculation considering mechanical inefficiencies in transferring the power to the ground with the train, and assuming the horses have the ability to generate more friction, via digging there feet into the ground. I would go with the horses out pulling the train.
2007-06-27 13:26:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is impossible to synchronize 5000 horses, so the engine wins. Anyway a horsepower is not a horse's power. Have you ever seen just 100 horses together ?
2007-06-27 13:27:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
The horses would probably win as they would have much greater traction. The locomotive's wheels would start to spin.
2007-06-27 13:28:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's not about power. It's about tractive effort - traction counts big.
2014-08-11 22:15:23 · answer #6 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If each horse can pull 33,000 ft-lbs/min then they would be equal. The horses would get tired first, though.
2007-06-27 13:25:06 · answer #7 · answered by - 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pwnies!
2007-06-27 13:24:24 · answer #8 · answered by Rudeboy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
5,000HP is 5,000HP regardless of whether its horses, camels or mice doing the work...(the number of animals involved will be different of course)..
Theoretically, the situation will be static...no movement either way.
I did say "THEORETICALLY".
2007-06-27 14:11:27 · answer #9 · answered by Norrie 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋