Clutch Video Still
(Image/Learn Engineering via YouTube)

While it may be easy to see why a manual-transmission vehicle needs a clutch, understanding exactly how it works is something else entirely.

But the gang at Learn Engineering is wicked-smart, and they put together a cool video that will help take the mystery out of how a clutch’s various components work in harmony to let your transmission do its job when you’re shifting gears.

A quick shout-out to the crew at Jalopnik who found and shared this video first.

What is a clutch? From the video: “In short, the clutch is a mechanism to disconnect the flow of power to the transmission without turning the engine off.”

See how it all works here: