Torque and Horse Power
Torque is one of those terms we use frequently, and it sits comfortably with us when talking about the performance of bikes and cars; E.G: ‘The Hayabusa ’s acceleration is phenomenal, because it has tons of Torque .’ ‘ A Range Rover ’s high T orque makes it a superb tow car!’ But what is Torque? Does it only apply to internal combustion engines, or do electric motors and bicycles also have Torque?
In this article I will explain what Torque is; how it is measured and how it relates to the Power output of an engine.
Let’s start by looking at the components responsible for Torque: namely Force and Distance! Newton’s Second Law tells us that an unbalanced Force (F) acting on a body with Mass (m), will result in Acceleration (a). For any given Mass, the size of the Acceleration increases proportionally with the Force responsible for the Acceleration; in other words, if you double the size of the Force you get twice as much Acceleration.