Collinson Library: Science8 Eco Transport: Combustion Engines

Useful Websites

Energy Conservation Video from National Geographic.
Energy Conservation Article

eBooks

Amazing Story of the Combustion Engine by Mari Bolte; Pop Art Properties Staff (Illustrator); Margaret Wooldridge (Consultant Editor)
Call Number: eBOOK
ISBN: 9781476531038
Publication Date: 2013-07-01
Your car always gets you where you need to go, but how does its engine actually work? Max Axiom has the answers. Join Max as he explores the science and engineering behind the combustion engine.

Internal Combustion Engines

The internal combustion engine is the sole type in use in 100 percent of automobiles and trucks today—and that dominance of the transportation sector is likely to be little changed by 2020.

At the same time, as of 2017, commentators were raising more questions about whether the incorporation of electric motors would supersede the use of internal combustion engines, at least in automobiles, in the not-so-distant future. Advancements in battery technology, specifically regarding efficient lithium-ion batteries, combined with global efforts to fight climate change led to some arguments that it would not be long before carmakers would be shifting more to electric technology—or at least more of a hybrid between the two.

As electric cars are simpler to make and maintain and drastically reduce carbon emissions as opposed to cars that use internal combustion engines, the call for electric cars may further increase. Yet others claim that with some companies working on methods for making the internal combustion engine more efficient, it will continue to remain in use for some time.

Internal Combustion Engine Article. An internal combustion engine is one in which the working fluids are comprised of reactants of combustion—oxidizer and fuel—along with the products of combustion.

Encyclopaedia Articles

Motor and Engine
An overview of self-contained devices that convert electrical, chemical, or nuclear energy into mechanical energy are called motors and engines.
Automobile
Cars and trucks are unique. Unlike many other types of transportation, they enable the driver to get in and go at a moment’s notice.
Airplanes
An overview of aeroplanes. See the section on Aeroplane engines.
Internal Combustion Engine
When a fuel is burned in air, the resulting hot gas tries to expand, generating a force that can be used to move a piston in a cylinder, as in the automobile engine, or to drive the blades of a turbine.
Diesel Engines
Of all internal-combustion engines, the diesel engine is the most efficient—that is, it can extract the greatest amount of mechanical energy from a given amount of fuel.