if you are like me, when i was a teen, i always wondered how cars run.

i couldnt imagine how the cars burn the gasoline to make them go. i thought at first there was a little chiminey inside the cars that burn the gasoline. hahahha. well, i was ignorant because i didnt know how the engine works.

well, if you are like me and wan to know how your car's engine makes your car run, i will show you

here' is an animation for a motor.
basically, there are four steps to making a motor run. the key is repetitions.



1. step one is to suck in air and mix it with gasoline (COLOR BLUE in animation)
2. step two is to make this fuel/air mixture compressed it, the engine compresses this mixture very tightly
3. three, once the fuel and air are compress really tight, you have to create a spark. if you make a spark, the fuel will burn. but since this mixture is compressed. you're defenelty going to get an explosion, so your engine's computer knows when this mixture is compressed and ready to be exploded. so it sends an electrical signal through the spark plugs. then, KABOOM.. its this energy that makes the piston go down with power and force.(COLOR YELLOW in animation)
4. ok, now that you got your explosion, you need to get the smoke out and get the cylinder ready for the next batch of clean fuel and air mixture.. so the fourth stage is to let the smoke out.(COLOR RED in animation)

click play again on the animation to see it again..

this happens so quickly millions and millions of times in your car over and over.. very quickly, you can measure how many times your engines is making each turn (revolution) by looking in your car RPM (revolutions Per Minute)..
20081014_6512_rmps-gauge.jpg

there are cars that have 4 6 8 10 12 cylinders, some will be V6 V8 V10 V12 etc.. the more cylinders you have, the more power you will create, but you can also create more power by using bigger size cylinders. ofcourse, the more you power you want, the more gasoline you are going to use to fill up each cylinder.

hope this helps you

if you are more interested in learning about cars. you should take a class at your community college. they offer auto shop classes for like 30 bucks. you can learn alot.