Brake Horsepower

[loverboy]

What exactly does Brake Horsepower mean when describeing the power of a car. Cheers for any answers putting me out of bewilderment.

[Quizmonster]

Horsepower is the power developed in the cylinder(s) of an engine. Some of this is absorbed by friction in various engine-parts. The power that remains - ie the power that can actually be used - is called 'brake horsepower. It was so-called because the level of power was measured by means of applying a brake to stop the engine-shaft from turning. After Watt and his steam engine developments, 1 HP became a conventional mechanical unit described as "550 foot pounds per second", which is actually about half as strong again as a real horse!

[loverboy]

Thanks Quizmonster for clearing that up but one thing is still puzzleing me, how do you know a car is very powerful or not very powerful by someone saying its got say 200 brake horsepower ?

[Quizmonster]

Click http://www.visionengineer.com/mech/horsepower.shtm
l and a link will take you to a web-page with a bit more information on BHP. Once there, scroll down to the section headed: 'Some Real World Figures' where a family car and a top-of-the range sports car are compared re BHP.

[loverboy]

Thanks Quizmonster you've been very helpful.