Glossary of Automobile terms Part 4

Power :

A measurement of how much work (Energy in the units of JOULE) can be done in a period of time
Example, 1 watt = 1 joule per second

1 kilowatt = 1000 joule per second

If you push a bag of rice that weighs 100 kg in a distance of 1 meter in 1 second,
your body has 1 kilowatt of power!

Horsepower:

in those days, heavy work was either done by cows or horses or donkeys. So when 1 horse was used, we say the work was done with 1 horsepower.
in modern terms, that work = 0.746 kilowatts

so i.e

1 HP (horsepower) = 0.746 kilowatts
My car has total of 105 HP on the engine i.e it has 78.33 kW power
My bike has total of 15 HP on the engine, so it has about 11.19 kW power.


Torque:

Torque is a special type of energy/work. It is the energy used to spin an object that has mass.
Example
If you open a door, the door is spinning at the hinge. So you are doing TORQUE (pronounced TORK)

When you use a screw driver to turn a screw, you are doing TORQUE by spinning it.
Your engine can do torque as well,
The PUSH-BANG-BLOW-SUCK cycle in the engine turns the gears, and those gears turn your axles, and those axles finally turn your wheels.

If you drive a heavy vehicle like those tractors, with large torque, you will start to move (slowly la)


BUT if you drive a light car, with large torque, and you slam on the gas pedal, your head will snap back possibly causing paralysis,
i.e. old uncles stay away from performance cars or at least drive like a ninny with your performance car and bald head.