|
A sprocket is a gear or wheel with metal teeth that meshes with a chain or track. Sprockets are used in bicycles, motorcycles, cars, tanks, and other machinery. In the case of bicycle chains by varying the size (and therefore, the tooth count) of the sprockets on each side of the chain, modifying the overall gear ratio of the chain drive is possible. A 10-speed bicycle, by providing two different-sized driving sprockets and five different-sized driven sprockets, allows up to ten different gear ratios. The resulting lower gear ratios make the bike easier to pedal up hills while the higher gear ratios make the bike faster to pedal on flat roads. In a similar way, manually changing the sprockets on a motorcycle can change the characteristics of acceleration and top speed by modifying the final drive gear ratio. In the case of tanks the engine-driven toothed-wheel transmitting motion to the tracks is known as the drive sprocket and may be positioned at the front or back of the vehicle, or in some cases, both. Sprockets are used in the film transport mechanisms of movie projectors and movie cameras. In this case, the sprocket wheels engage film perforations in the film stock.
Sprockets in culture See also | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
| |