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submitted 1 year ago by The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website to c/memes@lemmy.ml

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[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social 143 points 1 year ago

It's true!

Although it may seem safe to assume that one horsepower is the output a horse is capable of creating at any one time, that is incorrect. In fact, the maximum output of a horse can be up to 15 horsepower,[2] and the maximum output of a human is a bit more than a single horsepower. For extreme athletes, this output can be even higher with Tour de France riders outputting around 1.2 horsepower for around 15 seconds, and just under 0.9 horsepower for a minute.[3]
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Horsepower

I must now once again question the nature of reality.

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 127 points 1 year ago

the maximum output of a horse can be up to 15 horsepower,

That's the problem. The unit was not developed on the maximum power a horse could put out. It was intended to be what a typical horse could continuously sustain throughout the work day.

[-] jarfil@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Also why switching horses was a thing: a fully rested horse could run at a higher hp, then change horses and the new one could keep outputting thevhigher up whilecthe previous one rested.

Like switching rechargeable batteries, only the battery was the horse.

[-] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 69 points 1 year ago

Wasn't one unit of horsepower meant to represent sustained power, not peak power of a horse?

[-] gramathy@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 year ago

Average, not necessarily sustained. Horse gotta rest at some point regardless of how much power it’s putting out

Iirc it’s an average over 1 day (24hrs) without regard to rest. So even sustained a horse is putting out more than 1hp at any given point in time

[-] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 year ago

That would be a logical explanation... Get out!

[-] atocci@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

It's supposed to be the amount of work a strong horse can perform over one day on average.

[-] Rubanski@lemm.ee 53 points 1 year ago

HP from now on is called humanpower.

[-] original_ish_name@lemm.ee 26 points 1 year ago

It's called "Health Points" smh

[-] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

Just another silly quirk of the imperial system.

Metric uses kilowatts.

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

It's just playing with fractions and linear extrapolation. Horsepower has a time denominator. If you measure how fast I can run (not fast) in .1 second intervals, then take the highest number and extrapolate that to miles per hour it will seem impressive.