• officermike@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I tried to sanity-test the math here running the same calculations on a 700 kg horse, of which around 50% mass is muscle.

    700 kg x 50% = 350 kg

    Low:

    350 kg x 100 W/kg = 35,000 W

    35,000 W / 746 ≈ 47 hp

    High:

    350 kg x 200 W/kg = 70,000 W

    70,000 W / 746 ≈ 94 hp

    Despite what the term “horsepower” would seem to suggest, a horse can actually output more than one horsepower. Estimates put peak output of a horse around 12-15 hp. By those numbers, even the low end estimate above is around 3-4x too high. We’re gonna need more dogs.

    • Windex007@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I appreciate the sanity check, but just to throw a monkey wrench into your model…

      I think the square-cube law will bite you here. I expect power/mass isn’t constant. Mass grows faster than cross-sectional area which is key in muscle performance.