How do the gears on a car work and what do they do?

275 views

My Dads tried telling me loads of times but I really don’t understand them.

In: 5

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Imagine you are trying to ride a bike to the top of a hill. Starting at the base, if you were to try to go straight up, you would not be able to move. So, instead, you point your bike mostly “around” the hill, with just a small angle to start climbing the hill. Once you get some speed, you can turn to a larger angle to climb the hill more quickly. It is “harder” to climb the hill at a steeper angle, but it is easier once you have some momentum.

For a car, that “hill” is just the total speed, and the “angle up the hill” is the gear ratio. In 1st gear, you are “climbing the hill”, or speeding up, very quickly; but, you are able to start moving. Once you get moving, you shift to 2nd gear. That is like increasing your angle up the hill, but in a car, it is just the next range of speed. Once you are at a “good” speed in 2nd gear, it means you have enough momentum to shift up to 3rd. Note that if you had to slow down (in a car, the speed limit might decrease; in the bike metaphor, maybe there is some gravel you have to avoid), you have to decrease your angle/shift to a lower-numbered gear. If you do not, you will continue to slow down until you fall off the bike or you stall the car’s engine.

This metaphor is not perfect, but hopefully, it helps get you pointed in the right direction.

If I misunderstood your question, and you were asking something more along the lines of “how does a car’s transmission shift” or “why do you shift gears in a car”, my apologies.

You are viewing 1 out of 5 answers, click here to view all answers.