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Comment by tsujp | Hacker News Reader

In general relying on excessive detail or jargon is symptomatic of not really understanding something when required to explain things in simple terms. I believe Richard Feynman said as much.

The general idea is people hide behind that detail/jargon precisely because they don't REALLY understand it enough to explain in simple terms what it is. That doesn't mean everything IS simple of course.

I assume you know now but in simple terms: the clutch connects the engine to the gearbox (transmission), so how well the clutch is engaged (connected) helps control speed. Gears multiply (increase or decrease) power from the engine depending on the gear you've selected.

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> Gears multiply (increase or decrease) power from the engine depending on the gear you've selected.

Gears change how many times the wheels turn for every engine revolution.

Engine power is the product of angular velocity (rpm) and torque.

Gears are tangentially related to engine power output since they allow a user to select how fast the engine is spinning, but an engine outputs the same amount of power at a specific RPM regardless of what gear the transmission is in. 1800 RPM in 1st gear and 5th gear will generate the same amount of kW (or HP, if you prefer)

Understood, but in this (hypothetical) example his mother probably doesn't know exactly what angular velocity or torque are, so making things even simpler with a laymans "power" serves to get the point across.

One could include torque in the explanation to which the follow-up is probably "what's torque?".

The simpler one goes for that initial understanding, in most cases, the less technically correct one is; by design that helps the newbie learn and build up to a more technically correct understanding later on.

If I understand things correctly then my intuition for the answer to their mom's question would be gears wear out much less quickly than a clutch would if it were engaged all the time. Can anyone who knows more chime in?

Edit: ah wait no it's two multipliers isn't it, you're reducing overall power output when engaging the clutch?

Gears are multipliers. A clutch is basically two spinning plates - one on the gearbox/transmission, one on the engine.

When you press the clutch pedal in, it moves the plates apart so they don't touch. When you let the pedal out, the plates move together, slip and rub for a bit, and then grab.

While they are all the way apart or all the way grabbed, they don't wear. While you are in between, they are rubbing and wearing, and trying to get the engine/transmission to spin the same speed.

Thank you!

> Gears multiply (increase or decrease) power from the engine

Ah, so when you want a lot of power - such as to tow something heavy - you'd want a high gear for high power, right?

But fuel consumption will be highest in 6th gear, because more power means more power consumption - I'll save money by using a lower gear, yes?

Honestly I'm not sure how people who've never learned about gear ratios understand this stuff. Maybe a combination of "have you ever ridden a bike? It's like that" and "always pull away in first gear" and "when the engine makes a vreeeee sound change up, when it makes a wubwubwub sound change down."

See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41821494

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