shuvool t1_ja5nvfk wrote
This question seems to miss the understanding that horsepower is a measure of work done- that is, some amount of mass multiplied by some amount of distance all divided by some amount of time. (Horsepower a a unit is kinda weird like most US customary units, so you would have to pay around with the numbers a bunch to get mass, distance, and time out of the force, rotational speed, and constant that make up this particular unit)
In an application where your work gets done at a slow speed and doesn't need to change that speed significantly or quickly like towing or farming, a better unit of measurement to use would be in units of force. How much force can this machine apply to this load. For things that rotate, the force is torque.
Horsepower is calculated from torque and rpm. The equation is (torque × rpm)/5252. If all the torque needed is generated at a very low rpm, as is the case with large diesel engines, the horsepower is going to come out small.
jaa101 t1_ja5q753 wrote
> horsepower is a measure of work done
Horsepower is a unit of power. You need to multiply it by time to get a unit of work (AKA energy).
shuvool t1_ja5qqgt wrote
I was being overly simplistic. It's a measurement of the rate at which work is done, not the measurement of work itself
thetravelingsong OP t1_ja5oe1q wrote
Thank you!
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