Pop goes the piston essays

Pop goes the piston essays The Basics of an Internal Combustion Engine Everyday millions of people across the world depend on their automobiles. Their daily routine of driving never changes. They get in their car and turn the ignition on. After putting the car in gear, they press on the gas pedal and drive. Most of these people have no idea how their car engine works. They just supply it with gas and expect it to run. Under the hood of a car, there is a whole other world. According to author Lauren S. Bahr of the Collier Encyclopedia, an engine is a machine that converts heat energy into mechanical energy. Bahr says this conversion is caused by a process called internal combustion. Internal combustion is the heart of an engine, but isn't the only thing that goes on. During an engine cycle the valve train moves oxygen through each cylinder, while the cars ECU, engine control unit, supplies gas at precisely the right time. An internal combustion engine is a very complex power source, which drives peoples cars everyday. According to Marshall Brain of howstuffworks.com, a man by the name of Nikolaus Otto invented the four- stroke combustion cycle, or the otto cycle, in 1867. Brain explained that Otto's basic idea was similar to a potato gun. A piece of pipe works as a cylinder, and a potato stuffed in one end is the piston. Add hairspray as your gas, and a match as your spark plug. The potato will launch out of the pipe, like the piston will drive the crank shaft. During the four- stroke combustion cycle a piston moves down, up, down, up in four main strokes. Each stroke is vital to the cycle. A piston starts at the top of the cylinder, and on the first stroke, or intake stroke, the piston moves down. This movement creates a vacuum and sucks oxygen into the cylinder through an opened intake valve. At the same time an injector is spraying fuel into the cylinder. During the second stroke, or compression stroke, the piston moves b...