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How do Bearings Work?
Do you ever wonder how the electric motors and skate wheels can spin quietly and smoothly? This is because of a clean little machine which is popularly known as the bearing. It is a very useful tool which is responsible for the proper functioning of various machines that we use in day to day living.
Without the bearings, we will be regularly replacing various parts because it is easily worn out due to friction. Thus in this section, we will look at how bearings works through discussing its concepts and simple illustrations.
The Fundamental Concept of Bearing
The basic concept of the bearing is relatively simple. Things that roll move better rather than those that slides. As an example, the wheels on the car can be somewhat similar to a big bearing. Just imagine if your car is made out of skis and not of wheels, it will be more difficult for you to push and maneuver the car to the road.
The reason behind is that the friction between the things that slide causes force that has the tendency to slow down the motion. But if there are two surfaces that roll over to each other, the friction can be greatly reduced.
How a Simple Bearing Works?
The simple kinds of bearings like the one found in skate wheel clearly illustrates how bearing works by means of reducing the friction by providing smooth rollers or metal balls and a smooth outer and inner metal surface that will be roll against the balls. The rollers or the balls bear the load, thus allowing the machine to spin smoothly.
The Bearing Loads
The bearings usually deal with two types of loading the radial and the thrust. It all depends on what particular purpose the bearing is used. It can be used entirely as radial loading, or entirely as thrust loading but it can also be a combination of the two.
The bearings found in the pulley and in the electric motor are examples of radial load. In this particular case, most of the weight will come from the force or tension coming from the belt that connects the two pulleys. The bearings works similarly with the bar stool, it is particularly loaded with thrust and the entire weight comes from the load of the person who is sitting on the bar stool.
Another good illustration for a bearing is found in a car wheel's hub. The bearing is used to support the thrust load and the radial load. The thrust load is coming from the corner forces when ones need to turn around while the radial load is coming from the car's weight.
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