: What are Gears and what is their role in the engines of cars?
In: Engineering
The transmission transmits power from the engine to the wheels, this is where the gearbox is. You know how the RPM meter in your dash shows how many thousands of times the engine pistons are spinning per minute? The tires arent spinning at that same rate, theyre not spinning 2000-8000+ times per minute. Different size gears can turn a 1000rpm spin to a 200rpm spin if the second gear is 5x larger.
If you’re asking what a gear itself is, it’s a mechanical device used to change torque/output speed, as well as in some cases it can change the direction of motion, making heavier mechanical systems more manageable to manipulate.
Gears in a car change the output speed from engine speed at a power versus speed exchange.
Your engine is just an engine and responds to your input by pumping more fuel and air to rev it up. The gearbox is separate but links the engine to your wheels, called a transmission.
When you are starting to move from zero, you need a lot of power to get up to a faster speed. This is the nature of gears – you may be going slowly, but the gears give you more power due a positive gear ratio and vice versa.
If you did not have a gearbox your engine would be massive or it would be made to go only a specific speed or output a specific power. Having a gearbox allows you freedom for many different ranges of needs.
They’re not in the actual engine, but in a separate gearbox. They can step up and down the speed and torque delivered to the wheels
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