Horsepower is the imperial (British) unit of power, now replaced by the watt - the new SI unit.
One horsepower is the work done at the rate of 550 foot-pounds per second and it is equivalent to 745.7 watts. Horsepower was first used by James Watt, who employed it to compare the power of steam engines with that of horses.
Answered by: Anton Skorucak, M.S. Physics, PhysLink.com Creator
'In a way science is a key to the gates of heaven, and the same key opens the gates of hell, and we do not have any instructions as to which is which gate.
Shall we throw away the key and never have a way to enter the gates of heaven? Or shall we struggle with the problem of which is the best way to use the key?'