Horsepower vs Torque (In 60 Seconds)

By Engineering Explained

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Horsepower versus torque doesn’t have to be complicated! Torque is simply force applied at a distance. For example, when you use a wrench, you apply a force, pressing with your hand, at a distance, the length of the wrench, and that applies a torque to whatever you’re tightening. The harder you push, or the longer the wrench, the more torque you have, since torque is force x distance. Now power is just that torque, multiplied by angular velocity, in other words how quickly that torque rotates! So what does this mean in the context of cars? In a car engine, a piston pushes down, supplying a force to the crank pin, which is at a distance to the crankshaft center, creating your torque. Multiply that by how fast your crankshaft spins, commonly referred to as RPM, and you have power. So if you have a bigger boom in the cylinder, you get more torque. And if you spin that engine faster and faster, while maintaining the same torque, you get more power! Got it?! Full HP vs Torque Video - http

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