Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the mechanical horsepower, which is about 745.7 watts, and the metric horsepower, which is approximately 735.5 watts.
Pressure is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the ambient pressure.
United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and most U.S. territories, since being standardized and adopted in 1832. The United States customary system developed from English units that were in use in the British Empire before the U.S. became an independent country. The United Kingdom's system of measures was overhauled in 1824 to create the imperial system, which was officially adopted in 1826, changing the definitions of some of its units. Consequently, while many U.S. units are essentially similar to their imperial counterparts, there are significant differences between the systems.
Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure, is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere is a unit of pressure defined as 101,325 Pa (1,013.25 hPa), which is equivalent to 1,013.25 millibars, 760 mm Hg, 29.9212 inches Hg, or 14.696 psi. The atm unit is roughly equivalent to the mean sea-level atmospheric pressure on Earth; that is, the Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level is approximately 1 atm.
The pascal is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI). It is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is a SI coherent derived unit defined as one newton per square metre (N/m2). It is also equivalent to 10 barye in the CGS system. Common multiple units of the pascal are the hectopascal, which is equal to one millibar, and the kilopascal, which is equal to one centibar.
The newton is the unit of force in the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as , the force which gives a mass of 1 kilogram an acceleration of 1 metre per second per second. It is named after Isaac Newton in recognition of his work on classical mechanics, specifically his second law of motion.
The pound of force or pound-force is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system.
Ultimate tensile strength is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials the ultimate tensile strength is close to the yield point, whereas in ductile materials the ultimate tensile strength can be higher.
The bar is a metric unit of pressure, but not part of the International System of Units (SI); it is defined as 100,000 Pa (100 kPa). A pressure of 1 bar is slightly less than the current average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. By the barometric formula, 1 bar is roughly the atmospheric pressure on Earth at an altitude of 111 metres at 15 °C.
The standard atmosphere is a unit of pressure defined as 101325 Pa. It is sometimes used as a reference pressure or standard pressure. It is approximately equal to Earth's average atmospheric pressure at sea level.
The Vickers hardness test was developed in 1921 by Robert L. Smith and George E. Sandland at Vickers Ltd as an alternative to the Brinell method to measure the hardness of materials. The Vickers test is often easier to use than other hardness tests since the required calculations are independent of the size of the indenter, and the indenter can be used for all materials irrespective of hardness. The basic principle, as with all common measures of hardness, is to observe a material's ability to resist plastic deformation from a standard source. The Vickers test can be used for all metals and has one of the widest scales among hardness tests. The unit of hardness given by the test is known as the Vickers Pyramid Number (HV) or Diamond Pyramid Hardness (DPH). The hardness number can be converted into units of pascals, but should not be confused with pressure, which uses the same units. The hardness number is determined by the load over the surface area of the indentation and not the area normal to the force, and is therefore not pressure.
Cold inflation pressure is the inflation pressure of tires before a car is driven and the tires (tyres) warmed up. Recommended cold inflation pressure is displayed on the owner's manual and on the placard attached to the vehicle door edge, pillar, glovebox door or fuel filler flap. Most passenger cars are recommended to have a tire pressure of 2.1 to 2.4 bars when not warmed by driving. A 2001 NHTSA study found that 40% of passenger cars have at least one tire under-inflated by 0.4 bars (6 psi) or more. Drivers are encouraged to make sure their tires are adequately inflated, as under inflated tires can greatly reduce fuel economy, increase emissions, cause increased wear on the edges of the tread surface, and can lead to overheating and premature failure of the tire. Excessive pressure, on the other hand, will lead to impact-breaks, decreased braking performance, and cause increased wear on the center part of the tread surface.
A standard cubic foot (scf) is a unit representing the amount of gas (such as natural gas) contained in a volume of one cubic foot at reference temperature and pressure conditions. It is the unit commonly used when following the customary system, a collection of standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Another unit used for the same purpose is the standard cubic metre (Sm3), derived from SI units, representing the amount of gas contained in a volume of one cubic meter at different reference conditions. The reference conditions depend on the type of gas and differ from other standard temperature and pressure conditions.
In the field of solid mechanics, torsion is the twisting of an object due to an applied torque. Torsion is expressed in either the pascal (Pa), an SI unit for newtons per square metre, or in pounds per square inch (psi) while torque is expressed in newton metres (N·m) or foot-pound force (ft·lbf). In sections perpendicular to the torque axis, the resultant shear stress in this section is perpendicular to the radius.
Copper units of pressure or CUP, and the related lead units of pressure or LUP, are terms applied to pressure measurements used in the field of internal ballistics for the estimation of chamber pressures in firearms. These terms were adopted by convention to indicate that the pressure values were measured by copper crusher and lead crusher gauges respectively. In recent years, they have been replaced by the adoption of more modern piezoelectric pressure gauges that more accurately measure chamber pressures and generally give significantly higher pressure values. This nomenclature was adopted to avoid confusion and the potentially dangerous interchange of pressure values and standards made by different types of pressure gauges. For example, it makes little sense to describe a maximum pressure as 300 MPa, and in case the pressure has been measured according to the CUP procedure it should be denoted as 300 MPa (CUP).
The foot–pound–second system is a system of units built on three fundamental units: the foot for length, the (avoirdupois) pound for either mass or force, and the second for time.
Inches of water is a non-SI unit for pressure. It is also given as inches of water gauge (iwg or in.w.g.), inches water column (inch wc, in. WC, " wc, etc. or just wc or WC), inAq, Aq, or inH2O. The units are conventionally used for measurement of certain pressure differentials such as small pressure differences across an orifice, or in a pipeline or shaft, or before and after a compressor in an HVAC unit.
Sectional density is the ratio of an object's mass to its cross sectional area with respect to a given axis. It conveys how well an object's mass is distributed to overcome resistance along that axis.
A pound-foot (lb⋅ft), abbreviated from pound-force foot, is a unit of torque representing one pound of force acting at a perpendicular distance of one foot from a pivot point. Conversely one foot pound-force is the moment about an axis that applies one pound-force at a radius of one foot.
The metresea water (msw) is a metric unit of pressure used in underwater diving. It is defined as one tenth of a bar.
