what does torque indicate?

Question

Torque of an engine

Answer 1

30+ years ago when I was going to school to learn how to work on these beasts we call cars, I had an old instructor who explained torque like this: Torque is when you wake up in the morning with a stiffy and you've got to take a leak. When you stand in front of the john and push your pecker down to pee, your feet lift up off of the floor. Needless to say it was an all male class.

Answer 2

Torque is actually a measure of how much a force acting on an object causes that object to rotate. Imagine pushing a door to open it. The force of your push causes the door to rotate about its hinges (the pivot point). How hard you need to push depends on the distance you are from the hinges (and several other things, but let's ignore them now). The closer you are to the hinges, the harder it is to push. This is what happens when you try to push open a door on the wrong side. The torque you created on the door is smaller than it would have been had you pushed the correct side (away from its hinges).
In other words, torque is the twisting force the engine applies to the crankshaft. The engine torque is limited by the maximum engine horse power specified as a function of altitude in the input data. The higher torque
engine will respond more rapidly to the accelerator.

Answer 3

As stated elsewhere here, torque is a force multiplied by the length of lever arm. It is a way of measuring effective 'thrust,' if you will.

While torque in an engineering context (as in determining how much force is needed at the end of a lever arm to raise a certain weight) is usually expressed in foot-pounds (in the US) of torque, in an engine it is usually expressed in pound-feet for some reason (although the editors at Motor Trend often get confused and use one term in the text of a report and the other in the data panel).

In an engine, this force overcomes the inertia of the car (and the rotating inertia of parts like wheels, tires, brake rotors, etc.), allowing it to change velocity, or accelerate. More torque, faster acceleration -- up to a point.

In the vacuum of space, a constant force would mean constant acceleration, but on earth, the drag of aerodynamics, friction, and rolling resistance are added to inertial resistance, and eventually become so great that they exceed the torque available to overcome them, acceleration ceases, and the vehicle has reached its top speed.

Torque being dependent on leverage, it can be effectively increased through raising the mechanical advantage of the propulsion system through gearing.

This is a compromise, and effective only as long as the gearing does not exceed the engine's capacity to accelerate its own components, in which case the engine revs quickly to its practical limit ('red line') without the vehicle gaining velocity as fast as it might if less mechanical advantage were employed.

Internal combustion engines have what is called a 'torque curve' that describes their ability to produce torque over the permissible range of rpms. This starts out at zero at zero rpms, rises to a peak or plateau where the intake, combustion, and exhaust are most efficient, and eventually drops again when the engine's ability to digest fuel/air reaches its limits, as it approaches red line.

That's why we have gearboxes or continuously variable transmissions -- to allow maximum mechanical advantage for a quick start, while changing it in steps or continuously, allowing higher speed without exceeding the red line.

Horsepower is force applied over time. The forces of friction, rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag need to be overcome constantly, and horsepower is what we use to describe an engine's ability to do that.

Answer 4

Torque is not rotational force. It is force applied to length, or force times length. Higher torque translates into improved acceleration from an initial velocity.

Thus an engine with a longer stroke to the crankshaft with the same compressive force as an engine with a shorter stroke will generate more engine torque.

SAE torque units are foot-pounds and metric torque units are Newton-meters.

Answer 5

Torque is an indicator of power generation capacity in a vehicle.

Answer 6

Torque means the pulling power speaking in easier terms its that force that pushes u back into the seat when u accelerate your car rapidly ...i.e the pulling power of the car

Answer 7

torque is rotational force, usually measure in foot pounds