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[hr]What do you guys think of this example of trying to make this intuitive because
everyone seems to try to explain in mathematical terms, but simply seeing how
one equation is derived from another or how the units fit doesn't quite give
understanding to noobs like I was to this a few years ago.

You have two guys, dude X and dude Y. They both have the job of striking large
stakes into the ground.

Lets say that they both have to finish driving in the stakes by 1 min.

For every strike, X hits with 100 lbs of force, so that each strike results in
pushing the stake down 10 in.

For every strike, Y hits with 50 lbs of force, so that each strike results in
pushing the stake down 5 in.

So how will Y drive the stake into the ground by 1 min? Obviously, by
increasing the rate at which Y strikes. And if they both finished driving
the stake down at 1 min, then they both have accomplished the same total amount
of work in 1 min.

Relating this to engines, the force that X and Y uses in each strike would be
the torque of an engine (the force of each combustion really). The rate or
repeatedness of the strikes would be the rpm of an engine. How far the stake
gets pushed into the ground given a certain time period, in this case 1 min,
would be the horsepower.

Now, of course, if Y was limited to a certain amount of strikes less than X,
he wouldn't be able to drive it into the ground at 1 min.

And furthermore, lets say both X and Y must start of at a certain rate of
strikes and then steadily increase their strikes/second. X will start of
driving the stake into the ground faster and Y will because X has more force
per strike. But later on Y will catch up because he can *accumalate* the
distance his stake goes in by rapidly striking faster. (i.e. hp = accumlation
of torque in certain amount of time; conversely, tq = slope of power curve)

However, if Y couldn't exceed the X's rate of striking the stake by a
proportionate amount in 1 min. X would still have driven the stake down further [hr]