Hello!!! This has always confused me since I was a kid.
How exactly do modern cars, or older steam locomotives, move when they have multiple tons of metal sitting on top of them? Like how does all of that mass sit on an axel and the axel is still able to rotate at high speeds? I’ve seen train axels/wheels in person and it’s basically a large metal rod with a wheel on each end. Does the force of the engine overcome the friction of all of that weight?
Thank you in advance!
For anyone else who is curious about this in the future, several of the comments below were super helpful. I was also able to find this video on YouTube as a visual demonstration based on the leads these guys provided!
https://youtu.be/lIEHscqWJAk
In: 6
They have enough torque to move the object in question
Torque is the measure of rotational force being exerted by the engine/motor normally measured in foot pounds
1 foot pound of torque is equal to one pound of force being exerted on an object from one foot away
Modern v8’s can easily have 400+ foot pounds of torque which is more than enough torque to move a considerable amount of weight, like 15,000+ lbs
Latest Answers