How does a differencial on a car work?

Answer 1

Great question. There are many different types of differentials (posi-loc, limited slip, open). The purpose of the differential is to allow one wheel to turn at a different speed than its opposite wheel. When a care is turning, particularly sharp turns, the outside wheel must complete more revolutions than the inside wheel in order to complete the turn. It is simple geometry the the outside of a turn radius is longer than the inside.

Open differentials use a simple gearing structure to allow one wheel to turn faster or slower than the other. For this reason, if one wheel loses traction (ice, snow, mud) it will spin while the wheel with positive traction will provide little or no help. That is why engineers designed limited slip differentials which use a series of clutches to only allow for a certain amount of differential before they "lock" the left and right wheels at the same amount of spin or power.
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Answer 2

A differential is a device, usually consisting of gears, for allowing each of the driving wheels to rotate at different speeds, while supplying equal torque to each of them.

A vehicle's wheels rotate at different speeds, especially when turning corners. The differential is designed to drive a pair of wheels with equal force, while allowing them to rotate at different speeds. In vehicles without a differential, such as karts, both driving wheels are forced to rotate at the same speed, usually on a common axle driven by a simple chain-drive mechanism. When cornering, the inner wheel travels a shorter distance than the outer wheel, resulting in the inner wheel spinning and/or the outer wheel dragging. This results in difficult and unpredictable handling, damage to tires and roads and strain on the entire drive train.

Answer 3

this is a very simplistic answer but here it is.
the way it works is there is two rings gears one that turns each axel to each wheel thats turned but a pinion gear which gets its power from the drive shaft as u step on the accelerator on a car it spings the drive shaft faster which turns the pinion gear faster and then spins the ring gears faster

Answer 4

independeant is when going around bend one wheel goes faster than the other.
static both wheels drive at same speed
the 1st one is a bunch of gears doing the work
the 2nd one is direct drive

Answer 5

it's the same as it would on a truck, it's for rear wheel drive, it rotates the tires at different speeds as a car or truck would go around corners...

Answer 6

it allows the drive wheels to move independently at different speeds hence differential

Answer 7

This site will explain how it works and different types. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm

Answer 8

its got something to do with the back wheel