eli5: what is torque in a car
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Torque is the force acting along the rotation of the wheel or gear (or along any rotating object). If you take a lever that is one meter long and apply one Newton of force to the end of it, you create 1 Newton-meter of torque.
If you multiply the torque of a rotation by the speed of that rotation, then you get the power applied to the rotating object. That power can be stated in terms of horsepower.
In order to start rotating, the wheel (or gear) has to overcome a certain threshold torque based on the object it is moving against. This is why if you aren’t in low gear, the car won’t start moving.
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