Engines make power by making little explosions of fuel that push on the pistons.
These pistons are connected to a rotating shaft that drives the transmission.
One explosion can only push so hard on the pistons. Lots of explosions per minute (high rpm) makes lots of power and causes your car to speed up.
If you shift into too high of a gear, the engine slows down and the number of explosions go down. This makes less power and your car can get even slower. You can feel the shaking because you can start feeling every individual explosion instead of a smooth engine because it’s turning too slowly. It’s like the difference between a drumroll and someone hitting the drum one stick at a time.
Eventually the engine gets so slow that each little explosion stops pushing before the engine can prepare the next explosion. This is when the engine stalls.
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