What Does Horsepower Measure

Horsepower like any unit of power is simply a rate at which work is being done.
What does horsepower measure. It measures force exerted onto an object about a moment or where one part of it is fixed and immovable hence the unit newton metre nm or pound foot. A dynamometer measures this torque. Horsepower at the output shaft of an engine turbine or motor is termed brake horsepower or shaft horsepower depending on what kind of instrument is used to measure it. You can easily convert torque to horsepower by multiplying torque by rpm5252.
Despite horsepower being a universally known and oft advertised measure of engine poweras well as the basis for countless car purchases and fuel on the fire of automotive bragging rightsvery. Torque is a type of force. To get horsepower the dyno uses that recorded number rpm as a measure of time and a number of other variables in a complex calculation read. So imagine a horse raising coal out of a coal mine as shown above.
A dynamometer places a load on the engine and measures the amount of power that the engine can produce against the load. Two common definitions being used today are the mechanical horsepower or imperial horsepower which is about 7457 watts and the metric horsepower which is approximately 7355 watts. A horse exerting 1 horsepower can raise 330 pounds of coal 100 feet in a minute or 33 pounds of coal 1000 feet in one minute. There are many different standards and types of horsepower.
Horsepower is the measure of power output or how much energy could something produce over a certain period of time. Horsepower is a power measurement unit horsepower hp is a non metric measurement unit of power. Horsepower of reciprocating engines particularly in the larger sizes is often expressed as indicated horsepower which is determined from the pressure in the cylinders. Horsepower is a measurement of the output of a motor.
What horsepower means is this. There are few definitions of one 1 horsepower between 7355 and 750 watts. It was determined that a horse is capable of performing 33000 ft lbf of work per min. Estimation that spits out the magic horsepower number.
Literally the horsepower unit originates from an experiment which set out to measure the power of a single horse. Similarly if you attach a shaft to an engine the engine can apply torque to the shaft.