• Question: why is it that a huge truck carrying loads has many wheels

    Asked by 373pink23 to Alice, Koko, Paul, Silvia, Tim on 24 May 2018.
    • Photo: Timothy Chege

      Timothy Chege answered on 24 May 2018:


      The numerous wheel redistribute the massive pressure that a huge truck exerts onto a road. If a truck with 4 wheels is exerting a total pressure of lets say 8 Pascals that means that each wheel is ‘supporting’ 2 Pascals. If we increase the number of wheels to 8, each wheel will now support just 1 Pascal. This then implies that a heavier truck will require more wheels in order to reduce the pressure being applied onto the road.

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