the engine
The engine is one of the main parts in all modern means of transportation, as the engine is the part in the car responsible for generating kinetic energy in it by converting electrical energy or chemical energy in internal combustion engines, which are the most used in cars so far, into mechanical energy, so the chemical energy is converted In internal combustion engines to kinetic through the explosion of the fuel in the car inside the engine cylinder and the conversion of the explosion into kinetic energy, and there are usually two main types of internal combustion engines, namely the diesel engine and gasoline.
How internal combustion engines work
The working mechanism of internal combustion engines generally used in cars is divided into four strokes. The process begins with the intake stroke, in which fuel and air or air alone, depending on the system used in the car, are drawn into the cylinder. In this stroke, the piston moves from the top of the cylinder to the bottom to make room for the mixture. Then comes the compression stroke, in which the piston moves to the top with all valves in the cylinder closed, compressing the air-fuel mixture to the appropriate ratio for the ignition process, which varies according to the design of the car and the type of fuel used in it.
Then the power stroke begins, which occurs after the fuel explosion, so the force resulting from the explosion pushes the piston to the bottom of the cylinder and the piston transmits kinetic energy to the rest of the engine parts, and after the piston reaches the bottom, the final stroke begins, which is the exhaust stroke, and the piston moves to the top, expelling all exhaust gases generated from the explosion to the outside of the cylinder, so that the engine then starts the intake stroke again.
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The diesel and gasoline engines operate with the same mechanism, converting chemical energy into mechanical energy through an explosion, but the main difference between them is in the method of causing the explosion, as in the gasoline engine the explosion takes place through the combustion flame inside the cylinder, which generates a spark with a very high potential difference so that Gasoline explodes with the pressure it reaches, but in diesel engines, the fuel explodes automatically without any spark as a result of the high pressure that the diesel reaches.
Another difference between a gasoline engine and a diesel is the compression ratio, as the compression ratio is much higher in diesel engines compared to gasoline engines, and the ratio is lower in gasoline engines to avoid self-ignition of gasoline in the engine, which may lead to catastrophic results in gasoline, such as the phenomenon of roads, In some diesel engines, a glow plug may be used, which heats the cylinder of the diesel engine when it is running, especially in the winter season, in order for it to reach the required temperature to function properly more quickly.
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