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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s true!
I must now once again question the nature of reality.
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.
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.
Wasn’t one unit of horsepower meant to represent sustained power, not peak power of a horse?
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
That would be a logical explanation… Get out!
It’s supposed to be the amount of work a strong horse can perform over one day on average.
HP from now on is called humanpower.
It’s called “Health Points” smh
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That’s how you get to Harmonica Carnegie Hall
Just another silly quirk of the imperial system.
Metric uses kilowatts.
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.
Keep questioning! For Science!
you have to be a horse to do the tour de france
Isn’t it 1/15 of a horse? This makes my head hurt…
maybe a horse operating at 1/15th of it’s power would also work? i’m not really sure anymore
Pro sprinters (cyclists) can temporarily put out over 2hp according to their data logs.