> OK wrote: > > Now, if I understand correctly, if my pickup has the required > torque to pull the 4000 lb. trailer up Grapevine, and your lawn > tractor doesn't, I'll be moving and you won't. So torque does > matter, but more HP with the required torque means the work gets > performed faster. Insufficient torque means no work is done.
Pretty close. What you describe would be correct if it were not for the transmission. However, the transmission "trades" "speed" and "torque" (much like a electric transformer "trades" volts and amps - but the watts stay the same). So a 'phone vibration motor connected through a transmission with a deep enough low gear could pull that trailer up Grapevine! Probably we would have to measure the speed by years or decades, though. *smiles* This means that my little tractor, with it's very, very low gearing will be able to pull the trailer because the transmission is trading away speed until there is enough torque. But with only 7 HP, the speed will be very slow. > If Curt wants to haul a load of gravel to camp, he'll need a > minimum amount of torque to accomplish the job, regardless of how > fast it gets done. > > Did I get it right? Just remember that the lower gear ratios of the transmission _increase_ torque and _decrease_ speed. So if there isn't enough torque - downshift. Of course, that only works until you run out of gears... Higher horsepower means higher speed at the torque needed to do the job. Usually - as that ugly headed real-world gets in the way and messes this all up with transmission ratios that don't line up well to engine power band, torque curves over RPM, etc. Nothing is as simple as simple physics says it should be! -- Philip _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
