What does a flywheel do and how does it work?
In: Engineering
A flywheel is used to keep a wheel rotating longer. By adding weight to a wheel, it’ll keep spinning longer once whatever is spinning it stops.
Think of a train rolling down a track compared to a [pump car](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8f/ba/9f/8fba9faa91745b45277b2d3c79e6e4ee.jpg). If they’re both brought up to the same speed and then remove whatever is pushing them so that they just roll freely until they stop on their own, it’ll take the train a lot longer for friction/air resistance to slow it to a stop than the pump car. This is because the train has a lot more mass to it and thus momentum than a smaller pump car traveling the same speed.
Adding extra mass to a wheel will keep it spinning for longer once power is removed just like the extra mass on a train.
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