| Car Basics |
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It’s amazing. Technology has enhanced how today’s cars run, but the principles of automotive technology are about the same as those of more than a century ago. An electric spark ignites fuel (gas and air) in a small chamber and the resulting explosion pushes the chamber’s floor (piston) down. The power rotates a flywheel that eventually rotates four wheels and rolls the car down the road. Sure, there’s much more to it, but “internal combustion” or controlled explosions inside the car’s engine are the basic principle of most automobiles. Car Words What’s the difference between an engine and a motor? Technically, an engine is any machine that uses energy to develop mechanical power and a motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. That means a car uses an engine rather than a motor to drive the wheels. However, most people use the terms interchangeably. The primary difference between modern cars is whether the engine’s power is sent to the front two wheels (front-wheel drive) or back two wheels (rear-wheel drive). Most of the parts in both types of cars are otherwise the same.
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What happens when you turn the key in your car’s ignition? Lots of things. First, electricity from the battery powers a small motor called the starter. The starter motor then makes parts inside the engine rotate. Fuel and a spark are fed to the engine to produce thousands of small explosions that keep the parts rotating. Everything else in the car simply uses or supports power from these rotating engine parts.
