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Intermediate · 3 min

Relate rotation speed and torque

Meshing gears transmit rotation. In an ideal pair, a smaller driving gear turns a larger driven gear more slowly while increasing output torque. Torque is a turning effect. This exchange does not increase power: ideal input and output power match, and real gears lose some energy to friction and other effects. Gear size alone does not tell you every limit of a mechanism.

Practice

What happens when a small gear drives a larger gear in an ideal pair?