Shaft vs. Stem — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Urooj Arif — Updated on March 28, 2024
A shaft is a rotating machine element that transmits power, while a stem usually refers to the main structural component of a plant.
Difference Between Shaft and Stem
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A shaft is commonly used in machinery where it functions as a critical component for transmitting torque and rotation. It is designed to bear the stress of rotating elements like gears and pulleys, which are mounted on it. Whereas, a stem is an essential part of a plant, supporting leaves, flowers, and fruits. It conducts water, minerals, and sugars to different parts of the plant.
Shafts are typically made from metals such as steel or aluminum, providing the strength and rigidity needed for mechanical applications. This material choice is crucial for their role in heavy-duty environments. On the other hand, stems are organic, composed of various cells and tissues, including xylem and phloem, which are vital for the transport of water and nutrients.
In the context of functionality, a shaft primarily serves to transfer mechanical power. It is a fundamental component in systems like engines and turbines, where it converts energy into usable mechanical forms. Conversely, a stem's primary function is to offer support and conduct nutrients throughout the plant, playing a pivotal role in photosynthesis and growth.
Maintenance and care for shafts involve regular inspections for wear and tear, lubrication, and alignment checks to ensure efficient operation. Meanwhile, caring for stems involves providing adequate water, sunlight, and sometimes support structures to maintain plant health and stability.
Shafts are integral to the design and operation of mechanical systems, influencing factors like balance, strength, and the overall efficiency of the machinery. In contrast, the stem is critical to a plant's survival and growth, affecting its ability to absorb sunlight and nutrients efficiently.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A rotating machine element that transmits power.
The main structural component of a plant.
Material
Made from metals such as steel or aluminum.
Composed of organic material, including various cells.
Function
Transfers mechanical power and supports rotating elements.
Supports the plant and conducts water, minerals, and sugars.
Maintenance
Requires inspections, lubrication, and alignment checks.
Needs water, sunlight, and sometimes support structures.
Role in System/Plant
Critical for the operation of mechanical systems.
Essential for plant growth and nutrient distribution.
Compare with Definitions
Shaft
A long, cylindrical piece of metal used in machinery to transmit power.
The gearbox connects to the motor via a rotating shaft.
Stem
The part of a glass or goblet that supports the bowl.
She held the wine glass by its stem to avoid warming the drink.
Shaft
A long passage vertically or horizontally in a building or between levels in a mine.
The elevator moved smoothly up the shaft.
Stem
The main body or stalk of a plant, which supports the leaves, flowers, and fruits.
The rose stem was thorny, making it difficult to hold.
Shaft
The body of a column or a similar structural element.
The ancient column’s shaft was intricately carved.
Stem
The family lineage or ancestry.
Their family stem traces back to early settlers in the area.
Shaft
The handle or a part of a tool designed for gripping.
He held the hammer by its shaft.
Stem
A narrow part of an object that supports or connects to a wider main part.
The stem of the mushroom was as intriguing as its cap.
Shaft
The long narrow stem or body of a spear or arrow.
Stem
The part of a word that remains after removing the affixes.
In 'unhappiness', 'happi' is the stem.
Shaft
A spear or arrow.
Stem
The main ascending part of a plant; a stalk or trunk.
Shaft
The handle of any of various tools or implements.
Stem
A slender stalk supporting or connecting another plant part, such as a leaf or flower.
Shaft
One of two parallel poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle.
Stem
A banana stalk bearing several bunches of bananas.
Shaft
A long, generally cylindrical bar that rotates and transmits power, as the drive shaft of an engine.
Stem
The tube of a tobacco pipe.
Shaft
(Zoology) The main axis of a feather, especially its distal portion.
Stem
The slender upright support of a wineglass or goblet.
Shaft
The midsection of a long bone; the diaphysis.
Stem
The small projecting shaft with an expanded crown by which a watch is wound.
Shaft
The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.
Stem
The rounded rod in the center of certain locks about which the key fits and is turned.
Shaft
The body of the clitoris, extending from the root to the glans.
Stem
The shaft of a feather or hair.
Shaft
A column or obelisk.
Stem
The upright stroke of a typeface or letter.
Shaft
The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.
Stem
(Music) The vertical line extending from the head of a note.
Shaft
A ray or beam of light.
Stem
The main line of descent of a family.
Shaft
A bolt of lightning.
Stem
(Linguistics) The main part of a word to which affixes are added.
Shaft
A long, narrow, often vertical passage sunk into the earth, as for mining ore; a tunnel.
Stem
(Nautical) The curved upright beam at the fore of a vessel into which the hull timbers are scarfed to form the prow.
Shaft
A vertical passage housing an elevator.
Stem
The tubular glass structure mounting the filament or electrodes in an incandescent bulb or vacuum tube.
Shaft
A duct or conduit for the passage of air, as for ventilation or heating.
Stem
To have or take origin or descent
Her success stems mostly from hard work.
Shaft
The upright portion of a boot that covers the leg.
Stem
To remove the stem of
Stemmed the apples.
Shaft
A scornful or sarcastic remark; a barb.
Stem
To provide with a stem
Wine glasses that are stemmed.
Shaft
(Slang) Harsh, unfair treatment. Often used with the
The management gave the unions the shaft.
Stem
To make headway against (a tide or current, for example).
Shaft
To equip with a shaft.
Stem
To stop or stanch (a flow)
Stemmed the bleeding.
Shaft
(Slang) To treat in a harsh, unfair way
"He had been shafted by the press quite a bit" (Frank Deford).
Stem
To restrain or stop
Wanted to stem the growth of government.
Shaft
(obsolete) The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
Stem
To plug or tamp (a blast hole, for example).
Shaft
The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered.
Stem
(Sports) To turn (a ski, usually the uphill ski) by moving the heel outward.
Shaft
(by extension) Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
Stem
To stem a ski or both skis, as in making a turn.
Shaft
Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool, one of the poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle, the driveshaft of a motorized vehicle with rear-wheel drive, an axle, etc.
Stem
The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
Shaft
A beam or ray of light.
Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?
Stem
A branch of a family.
Shaft
The main axis of a feather.
I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer!
Stem
An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
Shaft
(lacrosse) The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.
Sarah, if you wear gloves your hands might not slip on your shaft and you can up your game, girl!
Stem
(botany) The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
Shaft
A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine
Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mine's shafts.
Stem
A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.
The stem of an apple or a cherry
Shaft
A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.
Darn it, my keys fell through the gap and into the elevator shaft.
Stem
A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
Shaft
A ventilation or heating conduit; an air duct.
Our parrot flew into the air duct and got stuck in the shaft.
Stem
(linguistics) The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems.
Shaft
(architecture) Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.
Stem
(slang) A person's leg.
Shaft
The chamber of a blast furnace.
Stem
(typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.
Shaft
(weather) A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area.
Stem
(music) A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
Shaft
To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.
Your boss really shafted you by stealing your idea like that.
Stem
(music) A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
Shaft
(transitive) To equip with a shaft.
Stem
(nautical) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
Shaft
The slender, smooth stem of an arrow; hence, an arrow.
His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft,That lean he wax, and dry as is a shaft.
A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele [stale], the feathers, and the head.
Stem
(cycling) A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
Shaft
The long handle of a spear or similar weapon; hence, the weapon itself; (Fig.) anything regarded as a shaft to be thrown or darted; as, shafts of light.
And the thunder,Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,Perhaps hath spent his shafts.
Some kinds of literary pursuits . . . have been attacked with all the shafts of ridicule.
Stem
(anatomy) A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
Shaft
That which resembles in some degree the stem or handle of an arrow or a spear; a long, slender part, especially when cylindrical.
Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold . . . his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
Stem
(slang) A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
Shaft
The handle or helve of certain tools, instruments, etc., as a hammer, a whip, etc.
Bid time and nature gently spareThe shaft we raise to thee.
Stem
A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.
Shaft
A humming bird (Thaumastura cora) having two of the tail feathers next to the middle ones very long in the male; - called also cora humming bird.
Stem
Alternative form of STEM
Shaft
A rod at the end of a heddle.
Stem
A lesbian, chiefly African-American, exhibiting both stud and femme traits.
Shaft
A well-like excavation in the earth, perpendicular or nearly so, made for reaching and raising ore, for raising water, etc.
Stem
To remove the stem from.
To stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves
Shaft
A long passage for the admission or outlet of air; an air shaft.
Stem
To be caused or derived; to originate.
The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
Shaft
The chamber of a blast furnace.
Stem
To descend in a family line.
Shaft
A line that forms the length of an arrow pointer
Stem
To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
Shaft
A long rod or pole (especially the handle of an implement or the body of a weapon like a spear or arrow)
Stem
(obsolete) To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
Shaft
A column of light (as from a beacon)
Stem
To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
Shaft
The main (mid) section of a long bone
Stem
(skiing) To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
Shaft
A long pointed rod used as a weapon
Stem
To gleam.
His head bald, that shone as any glass, . . . [And] stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron].
Shaft
A vertical passageway through a building (as for an elevator)
Stem
To remove the stem or stems from; as, to stem cherries; to remove the stem and its appendages (ribs and veins) from; as, to stem tobacco leaves.
Shaft
(architecture) upright consisting of the vertical part of a column
Stem
To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.
Shaft
A vertical passage into a mine
Stem
To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.
Stemming nightly toward the pole.
Shaft
A revolving rod that transmits power or motion
Stem
A gleam of light; flame.
Shaft
The hollow shaft of a feather
Stem
The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any kind; the main stock; the part which supports the branches or the head or top.
After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in the trunk or the stem.
The lowering spring, with lavish rain,Beats down the slender stem and breaded grain.
Shaft
Equip with a shaft
Stem
A little branch which connects a fruit, flower, or leaf with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole; as, the stem of an apple or a cherry.
Shaft
Defeat someone in an expectation through trickery or deceit
Stem
The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
While I do pray, learn here thy stemAnd true descent.
Stem
A branch of a family.
This is a stemOf that victorious stock.
Stem
A curved piece of timber to which the two sides of a ship are united at the fore end. The lower end of it is scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper end. Hence, the forward part of a vessel; the bow.
Stem
Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
Stem
Anything resembling a stem or stalk; as, the stem of a tobacco pipe; the stem of a watch case, or that part to which the ring, by which it is suspended, is attached.
Stem
That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.
Stem
The entire central axis of a feather.
Stem
The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.
Stem
The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.
Stem
(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed;
Thematic vowels are part of the stem
Stem
A slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ
Stem
Cylinder forming a long narrow part of something
Stem
The tube of a tobacco pipe
Stem
Front part of a vessel or aircraft;
He pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line
Stem
A turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward and the other ski is brought parallel to it
Stem
Grow out of, have roots in, originate in;
The increase in the national debt stems from the last war
Stem
Cause to point inward;
Stem your skis
Stem
Remove the stem from;
For automatic natural language processing, the words must be stemmed
Common Curiosities
Do all plants have stems?
Most plants have stems, but they can vary greatly in size, shape, and function.
How do stems grow?
Stems grow by elongating and sometimes thickening, depending on the plant species.
What is a shaft made of?
Shafts are typically made of metals like steel or aluminum for durability.
How does a shaft transmit power?
It rotates to transfer mechanical power from one element to another.
Are shafts only used in machinery?
While primarily used in machinery, the term can also refer to other long, cylindrical objects.
Can shafts wear out?
Yes, shafts can wear out due to friction and stress, requiring regular maintenance.
What functions do stems perform in plants?
Stems support the plant, conduct nutrients, and can store food.
Can stems photosynthesize?
Yes, some stems can photosynthesize and contribute to the plant's growth.
What is stem cutting?
Stem cutting is a method of plant propagation that involves cutting a part of the stem to grow a new plant.
What's the difference between a shaft and an axle?
Shafts transmit power and may rotate, while axles are stationary and support rotating wheels or gears.
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
