Duckpower: Everything You Need To Know & How To Convert From Horsepower
Source: Pixabay
Sometimes, just come up with the silliest things that blow up and achieve meme status. We’ve all heard of horsepower and how it relates to the power the engine produces. But who’s to say that we can’t use a different farm animal to measure just how powerful an engine is?
What About Duckpower?
Why not? These waterfowls are cute and adorable. Sure, they’re not exactly known for raw power and speed as horses, but they can travel long distances at astonishingly high altitudes. Again, it begs the question: why not duckpower?
Apparently, people loved the concept of having ducks under the hood and went home with it. What is duckpower? Is it possible to convert horsepower to duckpower? With simple maths, you certainly can.
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What is Horsepower Anyway?
We all know about horsepower or HP and how it measures an engine’s power output. But what is it exactly? Specifically, horsepower indicates the amount of power needed to move 550 lbs to a distance of one foot in one second. Interestingly, it’s also equivalent to the force required to move 33,000 lbs in one foot within a minute.
The power is measured using the rate it takes to do the work.
If you think about how horses were replaced by internal combustion engines back in the early 1800s, using the term “horsepower” as a unit of measurement for engine power makes a lot of sense. We can only assume it’s one way of convincing the masses to embrace internal combustion engines as the new way of doing things.
If you can make an argument that this new invention runs faster than ten or so horses, it’s probably easier to get them on-board (pun intended).
It’s worth noting that horsepower is primarily used in the U.S. Other countries have their unit to measure engine power. For example, Australia uses kilowatts (kW) to measure engine power, and European folks use Pferdestarke (PS). However, horsepower became such a popular formula that other countries have used HP more over the years.
However, keep in mind that a 100-hp engine doesn’t mean it’s exactly as fast as 100 horses. HP is a relatable and more convenient way of helping people understand the engine’s power output.
What is Duckpower, and Where Did it Come From?
Duckpower shares a similar concept with horsepower, but the calculation is based on the assumed power of a duck. This wacky concept originated from none other than a YouTube video.
More than three years ago, a channel called Art of Engineering uploaded a video called Horsepower Vs. Duckpower, demonstrating how simple it is to convert horsepower to duckpower. The calculation was based on something called Kleiber’s Law, and that’s how duckpower came to be.
How to Calculate Duckpower?
The whole calculation using Kleiber’s law is relatively complex. But in a nutshell, Max Klieber has concluded that an animal’s metabolic rate or consumption rate is almost equivalent to its mass if you multiply the figure to the power of ¾.
To illustrate, let’s say a cat has a mass that’s 100x more than a mouse. Based on the calculations, the feline animal will only consume 32 times more energy than the mouse. This is contrary to the assumption that the cat must consume 100 times more since the animal has 100 times more mass than the mouse.
The folks at Art of Engineering calculated duckpower by dividing the mass of the waterfowl by the mass of a horse, then applied Kleiber’s law. In short, they determined that one horsepower is equivalent to 131.2 duckpower.
As an example, let’s use one of the fastest sedans available, the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye, with its 6.2L HEMI High-Output V8 Engine, capable of a mind-blowing 797 horsepower. Converted to duckpower (797 x 131.2), the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye has 100,556.4 duckpower.
Let’s use another example using the most powerful car in the world, the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, capable of doling out a dizzying 1,600 horsepower, thanks to its twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter V8 engine. With the formula, the world’s fastest car has 211,200 duckpower.
While the higher number looks more impressive than 797 hp, the coolness factor goes out the window when you add “duckpower” next to it.
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Duckpower vs. Horsepower: What Does This Mean?
While it’s a fun idea that puts a smile on many people’s faces, duckpower is just a measurement concept that will remain as-is: a fun, silly idea. With that said, it’s an idea that never really caught on, but it demonstrated how the Internet could take something so silly and add a dash of legitimacy to it.
Of course, the Internet doubled down on the duckpower trend and made different calculations for different animals. Thus, don’t be surprised if you encounter terms like aardvark power, platypus power, and shark power in the wild.
Based on the calculations highlighted above, you can pretty much measure engine power using any animal as long as you have its mass.
Silliness aside, the concept of duckpower has made it apparent that using horsepower as a measurement unit isn’t strictly scientific. Horses don’t come in uniform sizes and mass (or any animal for that matter), therefore in more ways than one; it’s baffling why we still use horsepower.
Nowadays, horsepower or hp is the standard when assigning engine power specs to a car. However, most people know that horsepower is just a metaphor for selling cars. The industry seems to have stuck with it and likely not going anytime soon.
Now, this begs the question: Why don’t American marketers use kilowatts or some other units to measure engine output instead of horsepower?
It likely has something to do with consumers’ subconscious bias with larger numbers. Since people are used to hp for the longest time, a 10 hp motor will look more attractive to buyers than a 7.35499 kW motor.
Yes, it’s a primitive measurement unit, but it sells cars.
Duckpower: What’s the Point?
Well, it’s safe to say that there’s really no point in using duckpower, whale power, or any other far-out measurements based on animals for that matter. Like many things on this internet, duckpower was simply a fun idea, sprinkled with science and maths, and caught on with many people online (i.e., went viral). Thus, duckpower or any other animal power will not be replacing horsepower power to measure a vehicle’s performance any time soon.
Plus, the term duckpower is just over-the-top silly. Imagine saying your new sports car has an output of 70,000 ducks – it’s silly, albeit fun, but never official or marketable. At least, horses were used as a form of transportation before, so it somehow makes sense. That’s just about it, it’s a silly, fun joke meant to satirize an established aspect of the automotive world.
However, duckpower does highlight just how primitive the current measurements of vehicle power are. There are better ways to quantify the power of an engine such as Pferdestarke (PS) or kilowatts (kW) – both accurate and scientifically sound. But then again, at this point, we’re just so used to the old ways.
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