What's the difference between horsepower and torque? What does it mean to me? An explanation of horsepower and torque, and a way of explaining it so everyone can understand what they mean. Cars with high torque are powerful and strong; cars with high horsepower are fast, but ultimately it all depends on gearing. NOTE 1: The G force you feel when accelerating is 'proportional' to the torque curve at the wheels, not the engine torque or horsepower. The engine torque is quite meaningless by itself, because it is modified by the gearbox and final drive, but losses withstanding, it does determine what people 'feel'. Torque is a force, and hence produces thrust. Horsepower is not a force, and does not magically 'take over' at some point as some people seem to imagine. Think wheel torque! NOTE 2: Looking back, the analogy wasn't such a good idea; what I implying is that many vehicles with high torque that are geared low tend to be heavy, so added weight affects them little, where as small engines have lower torque, but rev higher, and are used in lighter vehicles where additional weight makes a large impact. Related Videos: HP vs. TQ - F1 vs. NASCAR - http://youtu.be/CxK0x7AE3s8 Please feel free to rate, comment, and subscribe! And don't forget to check out my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/engineeringexplained Also check out my official website: Make suggestions, participate in forums, enter for Car of the Month, learn through logically ordered lessons, read FAQs, and plan your future! http://www.howdoesacarwork.com NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEDNESDAY!
Comments
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Your presentational skills have improved considerably since you made this video. It isn't bad or wrong, but it could be clearer. I agree with the commenters who suggest that this video would benefit considerably from a remake, with some thought given to explaining horsepower and torque, and then the relationship between them.
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I actually think this video is very much a great explanation. But I think for the best performance, you would want to be in the middle. Having muscle like a weightlifter is good, but the better athlete has the ability to not just do heavy lifting, but also endurance like the sprinter to keep going. Think of it like this, in NFL terms. The high torque is like an offensive or defensive lineman. They have great power and burst on short distances, but few are going to be able to keep up with the sprinter over a long distance. Now using this logic, the other end of the spectrum would be say a guy like Earl Thomas (I am a huge Seahawks fan and wish this guy a fast recovery). He is very fast and agile and has great endurance and won't tire as fast as those offensive or defensive lineman, and is also strong. I think what you want in a vehicle is this, a blend of both. This would be a guy like Kam Chancellor (again when healthy). He is solidly built at 6-3 and 230 odd pounds. He has muscle, which you can see over the years by his run stopping ability and huge hits on tight ends and receivers over the years. But he also has speed, as evidenced by a 4.6 40 in the NFL combine. I think the best example for the most fun vehicle would be somebody like Usain Bolt. Who is powerful and quick in one package.
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Can you explain how some engines of the same kind(inline, v type, boxer etc) presents variations of torque according to number of RPM? I mean: some have high torque at low rev, whereas others of the same kind have high torque at higher revs. what is the trick?
I like your channel so much.. You're doing good... -
OMG it all relates to each other and I can understand. Thanks!!! Physics is so cool.
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hello everyone and welcome I wanted to say that jason fenske is the best engineer youtuber with high quality videos( except this one ;-). Give him a sub. You won't be disappointed.
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Why is it that on these engine specs I see online it says that the peak torque happens at some rpm lower than the peak power?
Does the torque actually decrease past a certain rpm or does it just plateau? -
Is there a simple conversion for Horsepower to KiloWatts and/or Ft.pounds to Neuman Meteres?
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so weight reduction in a sports car is very effective to make it faster?
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this is an old video, you should redone and I'm sure u will get way more views, and the video will have better quality
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Can you make videos with Metric numbers? The Metric systen is way more logical anyway
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I want to see the new and improved version of this video....people have been trying to understand HP and Torque forever!
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oh ok, so if i use a weightlifter as an analogy, my understanding is: his strength to lift weights is the torque, the noise he makes from lifting weights is the horsepower.....
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Torque is a physical attribute of an engine. It can be felt by holding the crank shaft. HP on the other hand is merely a concept and non existential. It is basically the concept of torque over unit of time. Like he says here. But do you really need a whole video to explain this? The answer is yes, yes you do.
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Is this guy Andy Ino?
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That's the best description I have heard to date. Thanks
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so for two car that have the same weight and aerodynamic ( not a truck vs a car ) a car with a big torque will be able to push the air at hight speed more easily ?!? (acceleration at hight speed )
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the analogies, the cross overs....All meaningless. HP is the rate of doing work.. its the determinant factor of how fast a car can accelerate at ANY speed . torque is meaningless unless you know the gearing. also the force goes down as the speed goes up proportionally. so, all you need to do is look at the HP curve, maximize it, and you maximize acceleration . very simple... no need to look at torque. dont confuse engine torque with rear wheel torque, which really dictates acceleration forces.
think of Energy as the capacity a body to do work. HP is the rate that work can be done, AKA, acceleration of the car at ANY speed. -
i wish you were my dad ^^
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Good explanation using the athlete comparisons.
The short answer my shop teacher gave me and I give other people when it comes to the relationship between torque and horsepower is. Torque is the force applied, horsepower is the result of torque. Reason that answer works is no torque no horsepower. -
I just can't handle the voice crack...