Horsepower to Weight Ratios
 

I was wondering if anyone can tell me how many pounds will 1 horsepower move and how that relates to the weight of our cars versus the horses we put under the hood!



Thanks!



John

John,

Horsepower is actually a measurement of the rate at which work is done.
1hp is equal to the ability to raise 550#, 1foot in 1 second or
1hp=550ft#/sec. As this relates to our cars, the torque the engine produces is the work being done and the rate at which it is done in the power or horsepower. Dyno's actually measure torque and a calculation is done to show horsepower. The formula is HP=(TorquexRPM)/5250. If you look at any dyno graph the horsepower and torque curves always cross at 5250 rpm. Horsepower has been adopted as the standard unit for conveying the power output of internal combustion engines although James Watt invented the unit to measure the rate at which his new invention the steam engine could do work as it related to the horses the engines were to put out of work. If you really wanted to sound impressive you could say one of these 1000hp monsters on this site makes 745,699 watts of power. Or when you need a 100 watt light bulb you could tell your wife to get you a .134hp bulb. It's these formulas and others that are used to predict et and mph in the quarter when weight and horspower are known and visa versa. Hopefully this answers your question. OK, the James Watt thing was over the top but true.

LOL....No No that was great! Yes, it answered my question!

Thanks! :thumbsup:

JOhn

After reading my reply again, I have to say I really am NOT that much of a geek. :( Sometimes my day job sneeks into my hobby!

LOL......even though geek IS a four letter word, it's OK to be a geek! As long as your a car geek! :lol:

Car Geek I can live with! :unibrow: Being an Engineer has it's downfalls, one of them is sounding like one! It has many perks, but I hate sounding like those proffesors I rolled my eyes at!

Car Geek/Engineer? That sounds even better! :hail: