Horsepower.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Andre Palma

HORSEPOWER is probably the most misrepresented and misunderstood term in the world motoring industry. Vehicle manufacturers and aftermarket speed mongers sell it like sex and the salivating motoring masses just can't get enough of it.

Who can blame us? When we speak it, the word rolls off our tongues and leaves our imaginations idling. The mere combination of its words is both virile and potent. It represents the unstoppable force that has no immovable object in its path. The image, in our collective unconscious, of a horse at full gallop, muscles taut, mane blowing in the wind and nostrils spewing steamy hot breath with the Magnificent Seven theme in the background, is purely exhilarating and, oddly, makes me want to light a cigarette and take a long drag.

Why is it so important? What is it anyway? Why are there so many kinds being sold to us, like HP, Ps, BHP and kW? Is 220 horsepower, under the hood of your brand-new Nissan Cefiro 3.0 V6, actually equivalent to having 240 equine entities pulling you forward? Well, the actual answer is that it depends on what unit of measurement you use.

Applied to steam engines

The term was initially coined during the industrial revolution and was applied to steam engines. If your steam engine could replace the work done by four draft horses in a day, then you had a four horsepower steam engine. The expression stuck and is used in common terms today to describe a unit of power.