Torque vs Horsepower...what's the difference?

aRTie02150

STEP OFF!
genuine question brotherman...fawk i feel like the guy who asks for a handshake and people think I got those electric zapper pranks in my hand.
This guy explains it very simply.




Quick examples would be when you're in a car. Ever notice some tiny cars are faster than a more powerful car, like a V8 mustang, at the initial jump? (Torque) But eventually gets over taken and eaten alive by the raw power of the mustang (horsepower)
 
Torque is a measure of radial force applied at the centre of rotation. (Force x distance) horsepower (or kW for actual engineering measurements) is a measure of what an engine produces in terms of power. The power produced by an engine is transmitted into a gearbox which acts as a torque multiplier at the expense of revolutions per second at some fixed loss. Think of an engine turning 3000rpm but the tyres turning 300rpm. The torque applied has been stepped up 10x allowing the engine to overcome the inertia of the car. Or something.

Edit: Just to be clear, combustion produces pressure which is the force acting on your piston. Multiply this force by the length of your crank to get your initial torque. Multiply that by engine speed and some constant and you will have the power value in hp. It's a lot more complicated than that as you need to calculate the indicated power of an engine since you also lose power during the compression stroke.
 
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