Torque vs Horsepower Meaning (What’s the Difference?)
The difference between torque and horsepower always confuses many people, especially those who are interested in automotive technology or who are trying to buy a new car and search the vehicle’s specifications on the internet.
At first glance, these two terms seem the same. They’re both about performance, right? What exactly is the difference between them:
– Car A has 200 lb-ft of torque and 100 horsepower. And
– Car B has 100 lb-ft of torque and 200 horsepower
Which one is faster? Which one is more powerful?
In this article, we will clearly explain what each one is and how they differ in terms of how they work, and answer the question of which of these two cars is faster and more powerful. What is Torque?
Torque is simply a force applied to an object from a distance and is measured by multiplying the force by the distance (assuming the force forms a right angle to the distance).
It can also be defined as the ability of an object to rotate around its axis with a certain force. Hence, it is measured in pound feet (US) and newton meters (rest of the world). The former is a unit of power and the latter is a unit of distance. This means that torque is directly proportional to force and distance.
The first seems obvious, the second may seem counterintuitive, but it’s easy to understand when you consider that longer levers are used all the time to generate more force, such as in catapults.
Torque is important in automotive engineering, and it becomes especially important as vehicles get larger. Torque is important for power, and is essential to moving large objects like trucks, so you’ll find that trucks have more torque (and maybe less horsepower, but we’ll get to that in a moment) than your average car. However, horsepower determines the speed of work, which is determined by other factors that we will discuss.
What is horsepower?
So what does horsepower mean? First, it may be helpful to understand why it is called “horsepower.” The unit is so named because it indicates a horse’s ability to lift a weight of 33 pounds a distance of 1,000 feet in one minute. It’s basically a unit of power and speed at which work is done. It’s all about how fast you can get the job done. So horsepower tells you how fast a machine gets work done – the more horsepower, the faster the work gets done.
And they are connected in this simplified formula:
Horsepower = Torque x RPM · 5252
RPM is revolutions per minute. It measures the rotational speed of a given object around a fixed axis.
That’s why horsepower is important in determining how fast a car is. Torque itself is not a measure of speed (distance traveled in a given time) because torque is measured by distance and force, not time. Power is proportional to speed.
At this point, the question about the two cars should be clear: Car B is much faster because it works faster. It could be that Car A is more powerful, or it could mean that its gears are manipulated in some way (remember that power is not the only factor that determines torque, distance also matters).
However, it is common for trucks and vans to have more torque and less power. You often hear someone talk about the performance of a sports car because a sports car’s speed is determined by power and speed is the most important aspect of a sports car. However, if you work in an industry that uses heavy machinery, torque is at the forefront of these discussions.
