How are we able to turn the wheel of a car with such little force and somehow overcome the force of friction between the tires and the ground?

Power Steering

While this does utilize a lot of physics we haven’t learned in class, I thought it relates well enough in understanding the force a person has to apply and the much greater force that is eventually applied to the wheels of the car. This much larger force is also required to overcome the force of friction, so with all that in mind I figure at the very least we can get an idea of how big of a difference power steering makes in our everyday lives. Power steering takes advantage of hydraulics to make it so a driver can apply a small force to the wheel and rotate the tires of the car. While you drive and steer the force required to turn the wheels varies so it is difficult to say exactly how much force is required to turn the wheels. In particular, power steering is more important at lower speeds since this is when it is more challenging for the wheels to turn. I started thinking of this idea in the first place because of how your car can be parked and you can somehow turn the steering wheel and the tires turn while the rest of the car stays in place. I think it’s really cool to think of how much force the hydraulic system in power steering is able to generate just from us applying a small amount of force to the steering wheel. Hopefully this video helps to explain this idea in some more detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6J9kvdSg7E