3 ms·

The differential (ignoring locking ones) applies the same force (approximately) to both wheels. If you remember your physics course about lever and force, see t

The differential (ignoring locking ones) applies the same force (approximately) to both wheels. If you remember your physics course about lever and force, see the video at 5:00, you can see that the lever is pushed by its center, hence both sides have the same length. So the same force is applied to both wheels. But the speed can be different. Hence, if one wheel is stuck, it still receives the same force as the other, only speed is lower. What is more annoying is when one wheel is freely slipping (like on ice), the other will have nearly no force applied to it and the car is stuck.

amelius 6y ago
> you can see that the lever is pushed by its center, hence both sides have the same length. So the same force is applied to both wheels. This is not necessarily true. Imagine a similar symmetric lever with a weight on one side, and a force on the axis that accelerates rotation. The acceleration of both ends of the lever are equal, but the force is not equal (since the weight is 0 on the other end). Anyway, the point of my comment was that a thorough analysis of this configuration is more involved than this video of which it was claimed that it "perfectly" explains how this works.
- leghifla 6y ago
  Sorry I do not understand your weight/force analogy. I assume that in a car, both sides have equal weight/inertia. Anyway, I did write "approximately" to avoid discussing acceleration/inertia of the differential itself. I should have written "in steady state" or something like that. It is true that a complete discussion can be more involved
baq 6y ago
> What is more annoying is when one wheel is freely slipping (like on ice), the other will have nearly no force applied to it and the car is stuck. i've learned about this the hard way about ten years ago: started my car, put it in first gear (manual), stepped outside and marveled at the freely spinning wheel on a patch of ice. fortunately got a push from a stranger who happened to pass by.

amelius 6y ago

> you can see that the lever is pushed by its center, hence both sides have the same length. So the same force is applied to both wheels. This is not necessarily true. Imagine a similar symmetric lever with a weight on one side, and a force on the axis that accelerates rotation. The acceleration of both ends of the lever are equal, but the force is not equal (since the weight is 0 on the other end). Anyway, the point of my comment was that a thorough analysis of this configuration is more involved than this video of which it was claimed that it "perfectly" explains how this works.

leghifla 6y ago
Sorry I do not understand your weight/force analogy. I assume that in a car, both sides have equal weight/inertia. Anyway, I did write "approximately" to avoid discussing acceleration/inertia of the differential itself. I should have written "in steady state" or something like that. It is true that a complete discussion can be more involved

baq 6y ago

> What is more annoying is when one wheel is freely slipping (like on ice), the other will have nearly no force applied to it and the car is stuck. i've learned about this the hard way about ten years ago: started my car, put it in first gear (manual), stepped outside and marveled at the freely spinning wheel on a patch of ice. fortunately got a push from a stranger who happened to pass by.