One horsepower is equal to ______ watts

One horsepower is equal to ______ watts

• A. 746
• B. 500
• C. 1000
• D. 1500

Answer: (A)

Power is often expressed in horsepower, defined as the rate of doing 550 foot-pounds of work per second. Converting that to watts uses the fact that 1 foot-pound equals about 1.3558 joules, so 550 ft-lb per second is 550 × 1.3558 ≈ 745.7 watts, commonly rounded to 746 watts. So one horsepower equals about 746 watts. The other options correspond to 500, 1000, or 1500 watts, which are not the standard mechanical horsepower value. (Note: metric horsepower is a different unit, about 735.5 watts.)

Power is often expressed in horsepower, defined as the rate of doing 550 foot-pounds of work per second. Converting that to watts uses the fact that 1 foot-pound equals about 1.3558 joules, so 550 ft-lb per second is 550 × 1.3558 ≈ 745.7 watts, commonly rounded to 746 watts. So one horsepower equals about 746 watts. The other options correspond to 500, 1000, or 1500 watts, which are not the standard mechanical horsepower value. (Note: metric horsepower is a different unit, about 735.5 watts.)