Quote:
Originally Posted by poomanchu
The pressure plate 'clamps' it into place when the clutch pedal is released, often with a ton or more pounds of force. Press in the pedal, release the clamp.
Think of it this way. If the clutch were slipping and you are not in a 1:1, you basically have a manual variable ratio (the non-1:1 ratio), where your revs in a certain gear has nothing to do with speed. This is not true, unless your clutch is needing replacement.
Seeing as how we can accurately judge speed in a manual based on gear and RPM, we would have to assume a 1:1 ratio. In this case, the assumption is correct lol.
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First off, the clutch cannot LOCK in a 1:1. So his statement was not “spot on”. In the world of friction, there can always be a chance of slip. Two metal plates with a disk sandwiched in between is hardly an absolute locking device. If there were some teeth, gears, etc that locked it, fine. But there aren't any mechanical engagements on the Civic clutch. It works on the principles of friction. A clamp relies on friction as well. Have you ever had a part, that was clamped tight, move? I have and it's because the force acting on that part overcame the friction holding it in place.
Again, I am not suggesting the clutch is slipping at all times. I am suggesting an engaged clutch can slip under certain circumstances. I am not saying it WILL, I am saying it CAN. I do not think that while I am driving my clutch is constantly slipping.
There is a lot of clamping pressure. But, that is not directly correlated to the amount of torque a clutch can hold under given circumstances. One ton of clamping pressure doesn't mean the clutch can hold one ton of the engine’s torque. There are a lot more factors, like the constantly changing coefficient of friction, as sited in one of the articles in the original post. Also cited in those articles, were the explanations about the differences between dynamic and static friction, outside factors, etc. It was actually some interesting reading.
In our world, we can assume all we want about the clutch not slipping. But, under the physics world, a clutch can slip. Do you disagree??