What is an combustion engine is about?

Answer 1

Combustion means fire. A combustion engine means that an engine puts a fire in a particular place. A steam engine places a fire underneath a boiler. The water in the boiler expands and drives a piston or turbine. That is attached to a drive shaft and drives the wheels or generator. In a jet engine, the combustion occurs in the combustion chamber. That makes the gas expand and the expanding gas goes out the rear of the engine and pushes the airplane forward. However, I suspect you are interested in the Internal Combustion Engine.

In an Internal Combustion Engine, Gasoline or other fuel is mixed with air in the intake manifold. A valve opens. A piston comes down. When the piston goes down, the fuel-air mixture is sucked into the cylinder. Then the valve closes. The piston pushes the mixture up compressing and heating the mixture. When the piston reaches the top, a spark plug sends a spark into the mixture. It burns. It pushes the piston down. That is called the power stroke. It sends power to the crankshaft and to the wheels. Then a valve opens. The piston comes back up and pushes the burned gas out of the cylinder into the exhaust manifold. That is how gasoline becomes useful energy.