| First things first, the car engine is an internal | | | | full of air into which is also injected a drop of |
| combustion engine, of which there are a number | | | | petrol. The piston then moves back up to |
| of different types, including the diesel engine, | | | | compress the air with the drop of petrol, the |
| petrol engine, rotary engine and two-stroke | | | | compression will make the explosion that is about |
| engine. The internal combustion engine runs on the | | | | to occur all the more powerful. When the piston |
| basic premise of injecting a tiny amount of high | | | | reaches it's limit, the spark plug emits a spark |
| energy fuel, for example petrol or diesel, in a | | | | which ignites the petrol, causing an explosion thus |
| small enclosed space, igniting it and creating a | | | | driving the piston back down. When the piston it |
| massive amount of energy in the form of an | | | | reaches it's bottom limit, the exhaust valve opens |
| expanding gas. The trick the internal combustion | | | | and the exhaust leaves the cylinder, leaving the |
| engine pulls off is setting off explosions like this | | | | vehicle by the tailpipe. This cycle is then repeated |
| hundreds of times over a minute and managing to | | | | over and over again. The linear motion of the |
| harness the energy that is thus created. Almost | | | | pistons is converted into a rotational motion by |
| all cars use a four stroke combustion cycle to | | | | the crankshaft which subsequently turns the |
| convert petrol into motion, the four strokes being | | | | vehicle's wheels. So as you may have gathered, |
| - intake, compression, combustion and exhaust. | | | | the cylinder is one of the core components of the |
| At the beginning of the cycle, the piston starts at | | | | internal combustion engine. Most cars have four, |
| the top, once the intake valve opens, the piston | | | | six or eight cylinders. |
| moves down, letting the engine take in a cylinder | | | | |