If a car engine is made to start in outerspace (ie in vacuum), the accelerator is pressed, and then the engine is put off, will the wheels of the car keep on rotating for ever.

If yes, then why? If no, then why not?

Please explain.

yes the wheels of car engine will keep on rotating

because there will be no force which will produce torque

same as the motion of behind wheel of cycle,where friction provides torque keeping point of contact at rest.

Yes, the car wheels will keep on rotating. This can be well explained by newton law of inertia. As in vacuum once the car is set into motion and the engine is stopped also it keep on rotating as there is no any external force to stop it.

 plz,plz,plz approve my answer if you liked it.

Hi Speed Racer,

Nice Question.

The wheels of the car will come to a halt.

This is because of internal friction of machines. The machine cannot be operating for ever without an external source of power due to simple fact of internal losses within the machine.

As there will be friction between the wheel and the hub of the car (and other axles in the cxar), the whells will eventually come to a halt.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Ashwin (IIT Madras).

Approved