I’m guessing the answer is leverage, but I have no clue.
Think of a see-saw at the playground. Put a 50lb kid on one end and a fully grown adult on the other. The adult obviously lifts the kid, right? Put the adult one inch from the center pivot point and guess what, the kid’s weight now lifts the adult.
Think of how long your quads are in relation to the length of your tibia. More or less equal. Now think of your calf’s length in relation to the length of your foot. Its almost twice as long. That’s almost twice the amount of leverage compared to your quads.
This is the difference between the two and why your calves seem so much more capable for their size than your quads.
Leverage.
Calves are insanely strong, in general. They are constantly balancing your entire body’s weight with every step and movement you make. Also as others have stated, squat and calf raise are different ranges of motion
Moving the weight 3-4 inches compared to 12-18 inches…
It takes more effort/power to move it a bigger distance
Also, the distance from center of the rotation matters.
For instance, doing a bicep curl with a 10 pound weight with your elbow by your side is easy.
Holding that 10 pound weight with your arm straight and lifting it up to eye height is much more difficult, but for most people without impediments still doable.
Now imagine the difference in distance between the ball and heel of your foot versus the distance between your knee and your hip.
I would guess you’re doing a much larger range of motion relative to each joint, squatting “ass to grass” but doing calf raises just from standing. Your ankles don’t move as far generally as your knees, but if you want to maximize calf gains, do them off a ledge so you raise from the bottom of the range of motion to flat-footed.
