3 ms·
I'm not a fan of the gym, as I prefer to stay active other ways, but I often wonder if the effort and energy expended there could be put to better use? This is
by eagerpace 5y ago
I'm not a fan of the gym, as I prefer to stay active other ways, but I often wonder if the effort and energy expended there could be put to better use? This is perhaps an example of that.
- dragontamer 5y agoHow many men do you need before you have one horsepower? One horsepower is .7 kW. A horse working for an hour nonstop would be .7kW hrs. Now, how many men do you need working constantly before you have comparable strength to a 20kW generator sipping a little bit of gasoline?
- kaybe 5y agoHere is an olympic cyclist barely managing to toast bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ Electricity is nice.
- dragontamer 5y agoThe idea that a singular man can output a horsepower (~700W) for enough time to toast bread is still very impressive to me! Clearly an Olympic-level athlete. That being said, I can't help but imagine that with some optimization, it could make the electricity generation a bit easier (maybe more RPM but less torque needed?). Clearly, the video shows him straining and pushing. Power == RPM * Torque, converting to less torque but more RPM with gears probably would be easier.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- rhn_mk1 5y ago> A horse working for an hour nonstop would be .7kW hrs. More like 8.4kWh. > data from the horse pulling contest at the 1925 Iowa State Fair showing that peak mechanical power output of a horse is 12-14.9 HP. https://doi.org/10.1038/364195a0 https://doi.org/10.1038/364195a0
- Animats 5y agoThat's peak. Average is much lower. 1 HP is supposed to be a horse on a treadmill for a full day of work. A horse in acceleration is outputting far more than that for a few seconds.