why do car wheels look like they are spinning backwards when the car is moving forwards?

Answer 1

its whats know as an optical illusion, Ur eyes work in the same way as a camera, in the way that see pictures.

U don't as U would thing get a constant stream of images, but instead Ur eyes take a certain number every second, so when the position of the wheel on the next picture Ur eye get is the same place as the last one it looks like it not moving, and when the picture id behind the first one is starts to look like its moving backwards

Answer 2

If you mean on TV or in a movie, it's an optical illusion. TV and movie cameras don't capture moving images. They snap a still picture every fraction of a second. For sake of an argument, let's say it's 1/10th of a second.

Imagine there's a dot on the wheel. In that 1/10th of a second, the wheel on a car moves both forward and around. The dot moves also, of course. If the car goes slowly, the dot moves only partway around the wheel. If the wheel moves enough so that it goes all the way around in 1/10th of a second, then in the movie or on TV, the wheel will look like it's standing still. The camera snaps a picture when the dot is always in the same place.

If it moves a little faster, the dot will go all the way around and then a little more - the wheel will look like it's moving forward, but slowly. If it's a little slower, and goes not quite all the way around, the wheel seems to be moving backwards.

This will work if the car goes twice as fast, too. In that 1/10th of a second, the wheel goes around 2 times. But the camera only captures where the dot is at that instant. It'll work for any number of speeds, too.

Answer 3

Because the wheel goes so fast that our eyes can't see all the images. It's like if the wheel was sending 20 images/seconds and the eyes would only be seeing 10. It's even clearer on tv since cameras catch even less images than the eye.

Answer 4

Because the human brain processes images at a certain speed and the wheels moving get into a certain rythm where you see it one instant its at a place and then next image your brain processes its actually almost made a full rotation but it seems like its going backwards. Does this make sense?

Answer 5

its the pace of how the car is moving

Answer 6

its an illusion. you have to be going the right speed for this to occur