One horsepower equals how many watts?

One horsepower equals how many watts?

• A. 500 watts
• B. 746 watts
• C. 1000 watts
• D. 1200 watts

Answer: (B)

Power is being converted from horsepower to watts. One horsepower is defined as 550 foot-pounds of work per second, which equals about 745.7 watts. Since a watt is a joule per second and 1 foot-pound is roughly 1.3558 joules, multiplying 550 by 1.3558 gives about 745.7 W, commonly rounded to 746 W. That’s why 746 watts is the correct conversion. The other options don’t fit because they correspond to different magnitudes of power: 500 W is too small, 1000 W is about 1.34 hp, and 1200 W is about 1.61 hp.

Power is being converted from horsepower to watts. One horsepower is defined as 550 foot-pounds of work per second, which equals about 745.7 watts. Since a watt is a joule per second and 1 foot-pound is roughly 1.3558 joules, multiplying 550 by 1.3558 gives about 745.7 W, commonly rounded to 746 W. That’s why 746 watts is the correct conversion. The other options don’t fit because they correspond to different magnitudes of power: 500 W is too small, 1000 W is about 1.34 hp, and 1200 W is about 1.61 hp.