Knowra Internal combustion engine Internal combustion engine A heat engine that burns fuel inside a combustion chamber and uses expanding gases to produce mechanical power. Its combustion occurs within the engine, rather than in a separate boiler.
Four-stroke engine : An engine cycle that completes intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes in two crankshaft revolutions. Its four piston strokes show how many road engines admit, compress, burn, and expel gases.
Thermodynamic cycle : A sequence of thermodynamic processes that returns a working substance to its initial state. Engine cycles idealize the compression, combustion, expansion, and exhaust processes.
Automobile : A road vehicle, usually with four wheels, designed primarily to carry people. Cars are the most familiar setting for small spark-ignition and diesel engines.
Automobile dependence : A social and urban pattern in which daily travel depends heavily on private automobiles. Mass production of combustion-powered cars helped make this pattern widespread.
Étienne Lenoir : A Belgian-French inventor who built a commercially produced gas-fueled internal combustion engine in the 1860s. His engine demonstrated a practical alternative to steam power, despite low efficiency.
Two-stroke engine : An engine cycle that completes a power cycle in one crankshaft revolution, combining gas exchange with piston motion. It produces a power stroke each revolution, unlike the four-stroke cycle.
Otto cycle : An idealized thermodynamic cycle with heat addition at constant volume, used to model spark-ignition engines. It captures the idealized pressure and temperature changes in spark-ignition engines.
Marine propulsion : The systems that generate thrust to move vessels through water. Large internal combustion engines power many ships and smaller craft.
Air pollution : The presence of harmful substances in the atmosphere at concentrations that threaten health or ecosystems. Engine exhaust releases pollutants including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.
Nikolaus Otto : A German engineer who developed a successful four-stroke gas engine in the nineteenth century. His engine established the four-stroke cycle as a lasting design.
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