Usually you can, but equally usually it's not worth it in terms of money. Bike parts are much more expensive one by one than they are as part of a whole bike.
The rational thing is to pick up a used bike that'll have what you want from the start.
If you still decide to go for it you'll need a new rear wheel, shifter, cables, cable stops, and depending on style of hub maybe a derailer as well. This is if you're able to settle for rear shifting only. If you want front shifting as well you'll most likely need a new bottom bracket, new cranks, another shifter and a front derailer as well.
Biggest hurdle is drop out width(the width of the frame where the wheel sits). If it's a steel frame the drop out width can be adjusted, but that's not really recommended for the other frame materials.
You can just about always fit an internally geared hub to almost any frame, but externally geared hubs are wider and harder to retrofit.
Yes
Two, but this is not the same as how many speeds the BMX bike in question has. A BMX bike has a sprocket in the front, and a cog in the back and each is a gear, but is considered a single speed bicycle because two gears and a chain are required for transmission of rotational force from the crankset to the rear wheel.
This bike has a six speed gear box, so six gears.
I think you mean bike gears, because a faster speed means a better time (the shorter it will take you to get to wherever you are going).That's just common sense.With bike gears though:Higher gears are tougher to petal but allow you to put more push into each stroke.Lower gears are easier to petal but you will petal a lot more often per rotation of the bike wheels.Example: If on high gears it takes you 5 pushes to get to your destination, it will take you 15 pushes with low gears.
Cruisers are usually single-speeds, but can be fitted with either internal gear hubs or derailer gear hubs. Usually 3-5 speed IGHs or 6-7 speeds derailer gears.
well from my experience "if understand the question correctly" take the number of gears on the back derailleur and multiply that number with how many gears are on the front derailleur
Gears on bicycles do the same thing as gears do wherever they're found, they allow you to trade power for speed, or the other way around. This is very useful if your riding conditions (up/downhill, head/tailwind, Carrying/empty) change frequently. OTOH, being able to use gears means your bike needs some extra parts and some extra care. If your riding conditions don't change much, then it MIGHT be worth sticking to a single-speed bike. You lose a little usefulness, but the bike becomes a little more robust.
an average bicycle has up to 24 gears but a bicycle has up to 30 gears
Gears - wherever you find them - is a way of trading strength for speed, or the other way around. On a bike they let you keep pushing the pedals at a comfortable pace and effort uphill as well on the flat.
A brake shows the car/bike down until it comes to a hult/stop. A gear changes the speed the engine works at depending on what type of road you are driving on and the speed limits. If you are asking about a bike then the gear's change the speed at which you pedal at, gear 7 on a bike makes you pedal slower but you have to push harder down on the pedals, however gear 1 on a bike makes you have to pedal faster and more genitally on the pedals, - both gears really work your muscles... so if you have a bike with gears up to 7 stay on 3 or 4! Gear box = what you use to change the gears on a car. Handle bar = what you use to change the gears on a bike.
A bike that was purpose built as a SS will take some tinkering if you want to turn it into a geared bike. There'll be some brackets for the cabling missing that you'll have to deal with. You will need a new rear wheel either way. and easiest is to get one with an internally geared hub. That should fit right in and you wouldn't have to respace the rear triangle. Going to external gears will bring more issues, respacing, derailer hanger etc. Odds are that you'd be better off getting a geared bike off craigslist or a yard sale instead.
The idea behind multiple gears on a bicycle -- whether it's an older "10-speed" bike or a modern mountain bike with 24 gears -- is to let you change the distance that the bike moves forward with each pedal stroke.