For someone without mechanical background, understanding the difference between horsepower and torque could be difficult
Whenever a person purchases a vehicle, the first thing a person does is to go through the spec-sheet of that vehicle. The spec-sheet of the vehicle comprises dimension details, engine details and more. A majority of the people do not go through the entire spec-sheet because the engine figures are all they care about. For example, the spec-sheet could read 70hp and 63Nm. For many, these are impressive numbers because these numbers represent that the engine of the vehicle is powerful. The hp stands for horsepower and Nm stands for Newton-metre (torque). However, much may not be aware of the real meaning and definition of these two terms. To most people, the greater the horsepower and torque, the higher and better the performance of the vehicle.
Therefore, in this motorcycle 101 article, we have simplified the two terms in the best possible way.
Torque- To put it in layman terms, torque basically is a twisting force and in the case of an engine, it is the rotating force. For example, when you tighten a bolt with the help of a wrench, you create torque every time you twist the wrench. For a moment, if we move to physics; the definition of torque is Force x Distance= Torque. So, how does an engine create the twisting force (torque)? Inside the combustion chamber is a piston that is attached to the crankshaft. The piston moves up and down, which rotates the crankshaft. So, in short, the size of the piston becomes the Distance whereas the amount of power used to move the piston up and down is the Force.
Horsepower- If we have to put a simple definition of horsepower, it is basically the measurement of work done in a time. In this scenario, the amount of torque produced in a particular time frame orperiod of time (Torque/Time=Horsepower). To simplify it more, torque is the amount of force generated by an engine whereas horsepower is the amount of force (torque) generated quickly.
So, what is horsepower vs. torque?
Putting it briefly, torque generates the amount of force that moves your vehicle. On the other, horsepower manipulates that force to make your vehicle move faster or slower as per your requirement. More the horsepower, the higher the top speed. The more the torque, the higher the amount of force is stored in the vehicle's flywheel, which helps the vehicleattain greater acceleration force.
