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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In a car, you have an engine. Parts of the engine spin around. Those spinning parts are attached to the wheels, so when the engine is turning, the wheels turn.
Engines work best when they spin at certain speeds – there is a minimum number of revolutions per minute (RPM) below which the engine will stall, a maximum number of RPM above which the engine will fly part, a point where the engine is most efficient, and a point where the engine is most powerful.
If the engine and the wheels always turned at the same speed, a car would have a very narrow range of speeds it could travel at. Suppose this worked out to between 30 and 60 MPH. There are probably times when you need to go slower than 30 MPH, and times when you would like to go faster than 60 MPH. For that, you need gears.
You could have a gear that made every 1 revolution of the engine result in only half a revolution at the wheels. That would make it possible for you to drive more slowly. You could also have a gear that made every 1 revolution of the engine result in 1.5 revolutions at the wheel. This would make the car go faster. This stepping up and stepping down is called “gear ratios”.
In most cars, the gear ratios overlap – you may be able to drive between 10 and 30 MPH in 2nd gear, and between 20 and 40 in 3rd gear. This is intentional, so that you can drive at a speed and either have maximum power or maximum efficiency.
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