What happens when you change gears with a manual car? Like what happens that allows the car run better and go faster?
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This engineering channel has great information on the operation of transmissions.
Basically, behind the engine (for a rwd car) sits a device that connects to the motor and spins at whatever speed the motor is. Behind that a shaft is connected to a series of differently shaped gears. When you shift gears you are sliding a different sized gear into place and locking it in so that it’s gear ratio is the driving gear. Smaller gears spin faster than the engine, giving the engine the ability to deliver more torque at less speed. We call this ‘gearing down’ and it is used in cars and prop airplanes. Any time you need whatever you are spinning, be it wheels or a propeller, to go slower than the engine you gear it down. Put a bigger gear and you can spin the transmission faster than the engine. This is the opposite and is used for when you are at a high speed. There is more resistance in higher gears, which is why you only use them when you are already moving. It takes much more engine power to start a car that isn’t moving than it does to keep a car moving at a constant speed. It would burn a lot of fuel and reduce the life of the engine if you didn’t gear up.
Now ask about torque converter automatics :-).
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