why and how do gears on a bike work? Why does it give more / less resistance for going up and down hills?
In: 1
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to turn a small gear whereas it takes a lot of effort to turn a large gear.
If you connect a small gear to a large gear, it is easy to turn the small gear which (in turn) turns the large gear, but only very slowly.
In reverse, you can put a lot of effort to turn a large gear connected to a small one, which then turns the small one very fast.
So by choosing the appropriate *gear ratio* (the comparative sizes of the gears) you can trade effort for speed and vice versa.
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