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Joule vs Horsepower - What's the difference?

joule | horsepower |

As nouns the difference between joule and horsepower

is that joule is in the International System of Units, the derived unit of energy, work and heat; the work required to exert a force of one newton for a distance of one metre. Also equal to the energy of one watt of power for a duration of one second. Symbol: J while horsepower is a non-metric unit of power (symbol hp) with various definitions, for different applications. The most common of them is probably the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.

joule

English

(wikipedia joule)

Noun

(en noun)
  • In the International System of Units, the derived unit of energy, work and heat; the work required to exert a force of one newton for a distance of one metre. Also equal to the energy of one watt of power for a duration of one second. Symbol: J
    • The Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin limit (GZK limit) is a theoretical upper limit on the energy of cosmic rays (high energy charged particles from space) coming from "distant" sources. The limit is 5×1019 eV, or about 8 joules'''. The limit is set by slowing-interactions of cosmic ray protons with the microwave background radiation over long distances (~163 million light-years). The limit is at the same order of magnitude as the upper limit for energy at which cosmic rays have experimentally been detected. For example, one ultra-high-energy cosmic ray has been detected which appeared to possess a record 50 '''joules (312 million TeV) of energy (about the same as a 60 mph baseball).

    horsepower

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia horsepower) (en-noun)
  • A non-metric unit of power (symbol hp) with various definitions, for different applications. The most common of them is probably the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.
  • * 2012 March 22nd, David Blockley, Engineering: (309), (Oxford University Press), ISBN 9780199578696, chapter 2: “The age of gravity – time for work”, page 20:
    • In the past, before the widespread adoption of SI units, the work that engines were capable of doing was compared with the work that horses could do – hence the term ‘horsepower'’. Various people came up with various equivalencies, but the modern agreed definition is that 1 ' horsepower is 746 joules per second or 746 watts.
  • A metric horsepower (symbol often PS from the German abbreviation), approximately equal to 735.5 watts.
  • Strength
    • political horsepower

    Derived terms

    * horsepower-hour * hydraulic horsepower * mechanical horsepower * thermal horsepower