Engineering Mechanics · Power through a shaft
A shaft feels torque, never power
score 0

A shaft feels torque, never power

P=τωP = \tau\omegaP equals tau omega. PP is the power transmitted, in watts; τ\tau is the torque in the shaft, in newton-metres; ω\omega is the shaft's angular velocity, in radians per second. It is the rotational cousin of P=FvP = Fv, and a newton-metre per second is exactly one watt, which is the whole reason the relation is this tidy. Solved the other way, τ=Pω\tau = \dfrac{P}{\omega}.

Two disciplines make or break every calculation on this page. First: the power must be in watts, so a nameplate in kilowatts is multiplied by 1000 before it goes near a socket. Second, and the more expensive: ω\omega is in radians per second, never rpm. The nameplate says rpm; the formula does not speak it. Cross the bridge — ω=2πn/60\omega = 2\pi n / 60 — before the numbers go in, and convert back to rpm only when you report the answer.

Now read the relation for what it tells you about machines: at constant power, torque is inversely proportional to speed. Gear a motor down ten to one and the output shaft carries ten times the torque. That is why the slow end of a gearbox is always the fat end, why low-speed machinery is so heavy for its power — and why a shaft is sized from its torque, because torque is the only thing the steel can actually feel.