Secret of DISC BRAKE!!

          Disc Brake is widely used in Cars, Bikes and Trains. You can easily find what's going on inside DISC BRAKE. But, there is a SMALL SECRET in this brake which makes it more efficient than the conventional DRUM brakes.

          The need of a Brake is to slow down the vehicle. Any Brake does this by adding up FRICTION to the motion of the Wheels.

          Here is a brief explanation of what's happening inside Disc Brakes. Disc brake has a Steel DISC which is fixed to the AXLE of the Wheel. There is a PAD inside the casing with a small Piston like arrangement. When Brake is applied, Hydraulic oil is pumped through the tubes to push a PISTON which pushes the FRICTION PADS against the DISC.The Disc slows down because of the Friction between the Friction pad and the Disc.

          Both Disc Brake and Drum brake adds up friction by the same way, but Disc brakes are much more effective. The Secret of Disc brake is the small diameter DISC attached with the Wheel. When Circular Discs are concerned, the angular area upon which the FRICTION. 

        In a DISC brake the Friction Pad holds the Disc which is SMALLER in Diameter. Because of small diameter the Angular AREA upon which it acts is very large. The SIZE is the secret here. I will attach a figure depicting this concept soon.

        A small Friction pad inside the DISC brake is equivalent to a very big Friction pad attached to the RIM of the WHEEL. For illustration, think of a conventional brake fixed to half a  Quarter of your wheel. It is really a big one. A small Disc brake is equivalent to this BIG brake.

       This is why Disc Brakes are very effective. The Secret is SIZE. The smaller the size of the DISC, the more EFFECTIVE it will be.