What is a horsepower and what in real terms of measurement is it?

Answer 1

Horsepower is officially defined as "the amount of energy required to lift 550 pounds, one foot, in one second."

Answer 2

Horsepower is the speed of doing work, or converting energy from one form to another. It is equivalent to 550 foot-pounds per second, so if you lift 550 pounds one foot in one second, or 225 pounds 2 feet in one second or 2 pounds 550 feet in 2 seconds, you are working at the rate of 1 horsepower.

One horsepower is equal to 745 watts or 746 joules per second or 178 calories per second or 2547 BTU per hour.

Horsepower is not an amount of energy, it is an amount of energy per second.

Answer 3

1 horsepower= the amount of energy needed to raise 550 pounds (at a constant rate) 1 foot per second.

Answer 4

Horse power is power (not energy) as the name itself. in order to lift 550 lb to the height of 1 feet in one second you need one horse power. It must be strong enough to accomplish the work. Do not confuse between power and energy. It's the same for temperature and heat , velocity and distance etc.

Answer 5

I heard recently that is was undervalued

as early cars were made to replace horse and cart
they needed to say their cars had 5 horse power
(when in reality it was nowhere near as much)

I feel cheated ...most of the cars I've had were rated in HP

Answer 6

hp*746=Watts.