How Does a Shock Absorber Work?

The working of a shock absorber is less complex, it can be easily understood if we know about the law of conservation of energy. This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change forms.

So, let us learn about potential and kinetic energy in brief. Potential energy is stored energy, and kinetic energy is energy in motion. A shock absorber uses this principle in its work.

For instance, when your car hits any bump or dip in a road, your vehicle’s suspension and springs move so that the tire can stay in contact with the road and absorb the energy. In this case, the shock absorber dampens the movement of the spring as it converts the spring’s kinetic energy into thermal (heat) energy.

This thermal energy then degenerates in hydraulic fluid.

A shock is an oil-filled cylinder, that allows the suspension to move, that’s a piston that moves up and down through the oil-filled cylinder. This up-and-down movement of the piston forces small amounts of fluid through some tiny holes in the piston head.

Because a small amount of fluid is forced out, the suspension’s movement slows down. It dampens the compression and rebounds the springs. The faster a shock absorber’s springs move, the more resistance the absorber offers. This makes the system velocity-sensitive.