Two Horsepower – IOTW Report

Two Horsepower

Friday, 19 January 2024, 16:30 Dr. Tar Uncategorized 22

The Drive

Sitting by the side of the road after sliding on some black ice, you’re probably wishing you’d bought winter tires about now. Or at the very least, that the tow truck would get there quicker. But if you’ll take help from any passersby, then maybe start whinnying out the window. With any luck, you’ll attract a horse to pull you out, just like a pair did to a GMC Yukon in Tennessee. More

22 Comments on Two Horsepower

  9. Sidebar:

    Sixty years ago the following were true:
    — I ran hurdles on the high school track team (and did pretty well)
    — My weight ran around 135 to 140 (height was 6′ 1″)
    — The stairs in the Washington Monument were open to anyone
    — The Washington Monument is 555′ 5+” to the tip, or
    — estimating, about 540′ from the base to the observation level
    — I could run to the top in 9 minutes
    — 540ft/9min = 60ft/min
    — 60ft/min = 1ft/sec

    One HP is 550ft-lb/sec, meaning I was expending just about a quarter horsepower for the 9 minutes of the run (550/4=137ish) just for the raising of my own weight, not counting energy used to pump legs and arms and to breathe.

    I figure that Usain Bolt at his best running 100m in 9.58 seconds may well have been putting out 4x as much energy mostly because I was NOT the best in the world, and we’re comparing less than 10 seconds exertion with more than 50 times as long for the Monument run.

    So my “fact check” verdict based on my own experience (in the very distant past) is that a maxed out sprinter may well be developing one HP. Briefly.

    3

  10. Left Coast Dan

    Interesting topic. Especially when you consider torque. I’d love to kick around later tonight. Still at work. I still think to qualify as 1 horsepower you need to strap on 550 pounds to the athlete and he’s got to move it 1 vertical foot in one second.

    3

  11. LCD/Uncle Al
    Follow along with me here. At one point I was a fairly heavy squatter. Not counting the entire rep, I think I was capable of moving 550 pounds 1 foot in one second. Is that one horsepower? I think so. Now I also weighed, ironically, 275 pounds. If I could jump 2 feet in the air in 1 second is that 1 horsepower? I don’t think so. I’m moving my own body weight. I don’t think that test was designed that way. Interesting topic. You can tell I lead a very boring life. LOL

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  12. ^^^ “…strap on 550 pounds to the athlete and he’s got to move it 1 vertical foot in one second.”

    even I can do that
    as long as the vertical direction moved is down

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  13. Yeah, I think the 1 HP was about the maximum for an all-out human effort, generally the idea was that it was on that order.
    If you strapped 550 lbs on me I think something would break! 🙂

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  14. Enough about weird science. I enjoyed the Amish,they help out alot when they aren’t in the city BURNING, LOOTING & MURDERING……………….

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  15. OH YEA= Radio man built many bridges.One time on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge I used a CONMACO 5300 air driven pile driving hammer.That sucker is rated in torque dude, like you know= 1,500,000 ft #……………..

  16. I was in a discussion with a dude that was a tuner for a funny car once talking about cam shaft timing yada yada yada. Any way what I took from that conversation was something he said. Horse power is what gets you to speed and torque is what keeps you there. Interesting way of putting it. Fast forward 5 or 8 years and in walks this guy who’s developing Wankel race motors. Some of the crew was really getting into it and would go out to Sac Speedway to watch him test his stuff. Most obnoxious sound you’ve ever heard. Sounded like a singer sewing machine plugged into 220 3 phase. They’d twist those suckers up to about 20K rpm and just drop the clutch. Motor would drop to about 10 rpm a rev from there not very impressive considering the money he was dumping into this project. Which was an RX7 road car. A couple actually. Well he had some money behind him. He eventually got all the licensing, a coupe driver, and an entire race team together. He was at Laguna Seca raceway early in the season and invited us out. Those Wankels would get them to a competitive speed. But the slightest up hill and they’d bleed MPH like no other. Horse Power Gets you to speed, torque keeps you there.

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  17. 1 HP human, YES! We also did that experiment in high school physics class. 550 pounds only 1 foot in 1 second. Totally doable by a human. And yes, a REAL horse like those pictured has plenty of torque. Hat tip Harry.

  18. Brad – A wankel is basically a two stroke motor.
    A lot of HP in a small package
    Poor fuel mileage
    No low end torque
    No low end torque in a turbine/jet either which is why they never really saw service in cars except for the experimental Chrysler.

  20. I have owned several Wankel engine cars.
    Loved em!
    My 1982 & 1993 RX7’s we excellent vehicles built in Hiroshima.
    Both manuals, 4 & 6 speed from what I remember?
    The tiny 82 had a 20 gallon gas tank!
    The 93 was the best color ever on a car, Competition Yellow Mica

    1

  21. FYI Harry,
    R­otary (Wankel) engines use the four-stroke combustion cycle, which is the same cycle that four-stroke piston engines use. But in a rotary engine, this is accomplished in a completely different way.

    I love that the rotor housing shape is called a epitrochoid.

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