Why does RPM spike when you turn?

Question

I parked my car yesterday and was straightening the tires when I saw my RPM go up from about 700 to 1000. Why does it do this?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

There are two things happening, first, the power steering of your car needs to draw more power from the engine to work, so the engine has to turn faster. Second, turning is a kind of acceleration. You are quite literally accelerating in a sideways vector and that also requires more power from the engine. So in order to facilitate the turn, the automatic transmission of the car drops to a lower gear and spins the engine faster so it can pull more power from the engine, just as it would if it were accelerating in a forward vector.