This was a lot of work, but it's over now. Let's calculate a few numbers. We can now show where horsepower comes in. Horsepower is a measure of power , which is a technical term in physics. It measures the amount of work that a force does as it acts over time.
Work is another technical term in physics.
It measures the actual effect of a force in moving an object over a distance. If we move an object one foot by applying a force of one pound, we are said to be doing one foot-pound of work. If it takes us one second to move the object, we have exerted one foot-pound per second of power. A horsepower is 550 foot-pounds per second. It is another one of those historical units that Napoleon hated and that has no reasonable origin in science.