How to Calculate Power Based on Force and Speed In physics, you
can calculate power based on force and speed. Because work
equals force times distance, you can write the equation for
power the following way, assuming that the force acts along the
direction of travel: where s is the distance traveled. However,
the object’s speed, v, is just s divided by t, so the equation
breaks down to That’s an interesting result — power equals force
times speed? Yep, that’s what it says. However, because you
often have to account for acceleration when you apply a force,
you usually write the equation in terms of average power and
average speed: Here’s an example. Suppose your brother got
himself a snappy new car. You think it’s kind of small, but he
claims it has over 100 horsepower. Okay, you say, getting out
your clipboard. Let’s put it to the test. Your brother’s car has
a mass of On the big Physics Test Track on the edge of town, you
measure its acceleration as 4.60 meters/second2 over 5.00
seconds when the car started