Shopping cart caster

what is the scientific explanation of shopping cart wheels to turn in opposite direction while travelling in some direction? what kind of forces act to make them behave like that? is it related to weight bias? or is the friction force changes according to the caster angle, positive or negative? i try to find answer to my questions from the following excerpt but it did not seem to help so much. thanks in advance

"The best way to visualize caster is to picture a shopping cart caster. The pivot of this type of caster, while not at an angle, intersects the ground ahead of the wheel contact patch. When the wheel is behind the pivot at the point where it contacts the ground, it is in positive caster. Picture yourself trying to push the cart and keep the wheel ahead of the pivot. The wheel will continually try to turn from straight ahead. That is what happens when a car has the caster set too far negative. Like camber, on many front-wheel-drive vehicles, caster is not adjustable. If the caster is out on these cars, it indicates that something is worn or bent, possibly from an accident, and must be repaired or replaced."

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Reply to
victoryoks
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snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news:1177454606.927570.88950 @r3g2000prh.googlegroups.com:

It's friction combined with angles.

Caster works because the contact point (where the wheel meets the road) is not in line with the pivot point. Instead of both occupying the same axis perpendicular to the horizon, the two points occupy different axes. Therefore, when one leads, the other will trail.

If you push a shopping cart on smooth ice, the wheels will have less of a tendency to turn the right way around, since there's little friction causing them to drag and hang back.

Reply to
Tegger

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