Engine.

Yayın bilgileri: Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science, 2024,Research Starters

An engine is a machine that converts an energy source into mechanical energy , often called
work or movement. Engines are central to everyday machines, including automobiles, buses,
and airplanes. Engines can broadly be divided into three types: thermal, electrical, and
physical engines. Technically, engines rely on combustion and motors run on electricity, but
the terms are often used interchangeably, and as electric vehicles continue to advance,
motors are increasingly replacing engines in the transportation industry. Both use energy to
produce motion, but the chief difference in practical terms is that an engine contains its own
fuel source, while a motor relies on an external source for its energy.

Background

Prehistoric humans used simple machines such as oars and

levers to perform work. Later, people learned to harness the
A typical gas turbine jet
power of animals, water, and wind using simple engines and
engine uses heat of
combustion to generate a tools such as ropes and pulleys. For example, a capstan is a
high-velocity exhaust as a
wheel with handles affixed to a vertical axis that was used on
form of reaction engine. Jeff
Dahl, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via early ships to maximize human effort when hauling ropes and
Wikimedia Commons cables. While early engines typically relied on human power,
animals were later used for many of these applications. The first known water-powered mill
was developed in the first century BCE in Iran and from there later spread throughout the
Roman Empire.

Heron, a genius of the Roman Empire, built the first steam engine almost 1,800 years before
the Industrial Revolution began. Heron was also known in Alexandria as Mechanikos , or
“machine man,” for his awe-inspiring hydraulic and steam-powered machines. Priests hired
him to build singing birds, moving statues, and other mechanical wonders that would draw
and inspire followers. His inventions included the first coin-operated vending machine,
automatons, and a fire engine. Though most of his writing was lost when the Library of
Alexandria was destroyed, several volumes survived. One includes diagrams and an
explanation of an invention he called the aeolipile, meaning “wind ball.” It is the first known
steam engine or reaction steam turbine. The aeolipile involves a boiler and a hollow sphere
mounted on a pivot so, as steam escapes spouts on opposite sides and aimed in opposite
directions, the sphere spins. Although Heron’s manuscript does not include information
about its use, the aeolipile was likely used, as most of his other machines were, to entertain
audiences. It would not have been efficient enough to make other uses practical and was
designed at least 1,500 years before the technology existed to build a boiler that would hold
significantly more pressure. However, the diagram indicates the basic principles of reactive
force. His writings also cover the principles of levers, pulleys, wedges, and screws to lift heavy
objects.

Translations of Heron’s manuscripts became available in the 1540s, prompting inventors to

build upon his devices. English inventor Thomas Savery created the first modern steam
engine in 1689, and two decades later Thomas Newcomen improved upon his design.
Newcomen’s steam engine was used to power mills and factories and as a water pump.
James Watt improved upon the Newcomen steam engine in 1769, ushering in the era of
steam power and launching the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and the United States.

Ancient peoples also developed water-raising systems that relied on the principles of
engines, and during classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, armies used siege engines such
as huge mechanical crossbows, battering rams, and catapults . These were based on simple
mechanisms such as counterweights, momentum, and tension. Many relied on humans for
their power; for example, a battering ram uses the physics of momentum to increase the
impact of a swinging log against a door or gate. Catapults and crossbows converted stored
potential energy in devices such as springs to launch objects such as huge rocks.

The use of fuel as a propellant developed in ancient times in Asia. Black powder, later called
gunpowder , was invented in China by about 200 BCE. By about 600 CE, the Chinese had
learned to launch fireworks and other explosive charges into the sky, and in 1232 they were
launching rockets as weapons against the Mongols. These “fire arrows,” as they were called,
carried flammable materials or poison to the enemy. For centuries, variations of these
rockets were used in warfare; for example, cannons replaced such siege weapons as
catapults and firearms replaced crossbows. The principles of the rocket engine were refined
as airplanes and rockets became essential in transportation, military use, and space
exploration.

Thermal Engines

Thermal engines convert a heat source into motion. The three types of thermal engines are
external combustion (EC), internal combustion (IC), and reaction engines. The most common
are internal combustion engines, which power traditional machines such as cars,
lawnmowers, and some ships. An IC engine burns fuel, usually with an oxidizer, in a
combustion chamber. Combustion generates exhaust that has a greater volume than the fuel
and oxidizer. This expansion provides the motion through mechanical parts such as pistons
and crankshafts. IC engines vary according to cycle, type of fuel, number and array of the
cylinders, total displacement, power, and power-to-weight output.
The fuel and exhaust products are kept separate in steam engines and other types of
external combustion engines. Fuel is burned in one chamber, while a heat exchanger or the
wall of the engine transfers heat to fluid in the engine. The fluid dilates and contracts or
changes phases, such as gaseous or liquid, but unlike combusted fuels in IC engines, the
chemical composition of the fluid does not change. Some EC engines, known as open-cycle
engines, may exhaust the fluid. Others, called closed-cycle engines, or recirculate the fluid. EC
engines are typically bulky and heavy and less fuel-efficient than IC engines, but are still
widely used in power plants and in naval vessels. Boiling-water nuclear reactors are external
heat engines. Nuclear fission in the reactor core produces heat, which causes water—the
coolant—to boil and produce steam. The steam drives a turbine before it cools in a
condenser. Once it returns to its liquid form, it continues to circulate through the reactor
system. The turbine is connected to a generator, where spinning blades convert the
mechanical or kinetic energy to electrical energy.

Reaction engines are also called jet engines . They rely on Newton’s Third Law of Motion,
which holds for every action or force in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Reaction engines use this force to generate thrust. Ordinary reaction engines, or airbreathing
jet engines, use turbines to feed air to the engine and compress it into the combustion
chamber. Ramjet engines use speed to feed air to the engine. The concentrated air is mixed
with fuel and ignited, generating exhaust and thermally expanding the gas, which powers the
turbine and forcefully exits the back of the engine. This exit point is the propelling nozzle,
which is narrower than the air intake and boosts the thrust of the jet engine. Rocket engines
are non-airbreathing jet engines. Rather than use air from outside the engine, rocket engines
rely on oxidizers that are included in the solid fuel the engines require.

Electrical Engines

Electrical engines (or motors) include magnetic, electrostatic, and piezoelectric varieties.
Magnetic engines, which are the most common, use the flow of electricity and a magnetic
field to create rotation. The outer part of the motor, called the stator, does not move.
Magnets are usually embedded into the stator. The stator is separated by an air gap from the
rotor inside it. The conductor is commonly wrapped around the rotor, which spins.

Electrostatic and piezoelectric engines are less commonly used than magnetic drives because
they have some larger drawbacks. Electrostatic engines use like electric charges, which repel
one another. This generates rotation in a rotor. These engines require high voltages.
Piezoelectric engines use electricity to generate ultrasonic vibrations. The materials required
for this process, (often lead zirconate titanate or lithium niobate) are expensive.

Physical Engines
Physical engines such as clockwork, hydraulic, and pneumatic engines use stored mechanical
energy. These types of engines, which include battering rams and catapults, are the earliest
developed by humans. However, they are not efficient and cannot operate on large energy
reserves. For example, clockwork engines must be wound regularly, typically daily. They rely
on elastic energy stored in springs. Hydraulic and pneumatic engines rely on large tubes of
compressed fluids.

Fuels

Gasoline and diesel are among the most commonly used engine fuels. Other energy sources
include biodiesel , compressed natural gas, electric batteries, ethanol , hydrogen, and
propane . Many types of engines can be used with renewable energy such as water, solar,
and wind power. For example, people have used wind and water energy for millennia, but in
the twenty-first century, the technology to store this energy has made the process more
efficient and affordable. Construction processes have enabled countries to build enormous
hydroelectric dams that can power cities. Solar panels have become smaller and more
affordable. The sun is being used to power vessels and companies are working to develop
efficient solar-powered cars.

Bibliography

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Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.

“Engines vs. Motors.” JTech Institute , www.rocket.com/innovation/solid-rocket-motors.

Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

“How Do Hybrid Electric Cars Work?” US Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center ,
afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/how-do-hybrid-electric-cars-work. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

Micu, Alexandru. “Types of Engines and How They Work.” ZME Science , 7 June 2019,
www.zmescience.com/science/types-of-engines/. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.

Nugent, Addison. “Why Heron’s Aeolipile Is One of History’s Greatest Forgotten Machines.”
Popular Mechanics , 29 Nov. 2020,
www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a34554479/heron-aeolipile/. Accessed 27 Mar.
2023.

Patel, Piyush. “What Are Siege Engines?” Science ABC , 22 Jan. 2022,
www.scienceabc.com/innovation/what-are-siege-engines.html. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.

“The Growth of the Steam-Engine.” University of Rochester ,

web.archive.org/web/20120204034636/http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/thurston/1878/Cha
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"Real-Time Diagnostics for Better Engines." Department of Energy , 13 July 2023,

www.energy.gov/science/bes/articles/real-time-diagnostics-better-engines. Accessed 10 Nov.
2024.

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