737ng n1
In the climb today I noticed that the FMC was commanding an N1 of 100.1% which set me thinking about N1 limitations. On looking at the manual, I noticed that the N1 limitation overall for the engine is something like 105%. Furthermore I noticed that there were several inches of play left in the thrust levers when 100.1% was set. Presumably pushing them all the way forward to the stops would take the engines to the red line limitation?
Could someone explain why the limit isn't 100%?! To me, it doesn't seem to make sense that you can go above 100% ever, but I'm sure someone with a more encyclopaedic knowledge of these things can explain better?