Wikijunior:How Things Work/Automotive Engine
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An automobile engine is a mechanical device used to produce rotation to move a car.
[edit] Who invented it?
Nicolaus Otto was the first person to successfully build the type of engine that would later become an automobile engine in 1876. In 1885 Karl Benz used an engine similar to Otto's engine to propel a three-wheeled automobile. In the same year, Benz began producing and selling automobiles.
[edit] How does it get power?
The internal combustion engine gets its power from the heat generated from the burning of fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified petroleum gas (LPG). Some recent technologies utilize hydrogen also.
[edit] How does it work?
An engine works by burning a fuel and converting the thermal energy into mechanical energy. Specifically, a fuel-air mixture is compressed and ignited in metal cylinders. The hot, expanding gas from the combustion drives a piston downwards, causing a crankshaft to rotate. The power from the rotating crankshift is what ultimately drives the wheels.
[edit] How dangerous is it?
Engines get hot and have lots of moving parts, so they have to be turned off before you can work on them. They can stay very hot for a while even when turned off, so never touch an engine unless you are certain it has cooled off.
[edit] What does it do?
A mechanical device that converts thermal energy to mechanical energy. Reciprocating motion is converted to rotary motion, and transmitted through clutch,gear box etc to move the wheels of the car.
[edit] How does it vary?
Automotive engines vary in the number of cylinders they have, and the size and positioning of those cylinders. For example, an Inline-4 has four cylinders in a line, and a V-6 has three pairs of cylinders in a "V" shape. Automotive engines may be 2-stroke or 4-stroke.They may also vary as Spark-ignition(SI) or Compression-ignition(CI) engines.
[edit] How has it changed the world?
It has made transportation much easier and faster and has helped create globalization.It has also led to increase in pollution.
[edit] What idea(s) and/or inventions had to be developed before it could be created?
The steam engine was the precursor to the automotive engine. The ideas of converting reciprocatory motion of the piston to rotary motion and speed control using governers were used in steam engines and later in automotive engines as well.
