An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines (such as steam engines) burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion. Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical motion, pneumatic motors use compressed air and others, such as clockwork motors in wind-up toys use elastic energy. In biological systems, molecular motors like myosins in muscles use chemical energy to create motion.
Read more about Engine: Terminology, Nonthermal Chemically Powered Motor, Electric Motor, Physically Powered Motor, Sound Levels, Efficiency, Engines By Use, Engine Speed
Famous quotes containing the word engine:
“The machine unmakes the man. Now that the machine is perfect, the engineer is nobody. Every new step in improving the engine restricts one more act of the engineer,—unteaches him.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The will is never free—it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car—it can’t steer.”
—Joyce Cary (1888–1957)
“Industrial man—a sentient reciprocating engine having a fluctuating output, coupled to an iron wheel revolving with uniform velocity. And then we wonder why this should be the golden age of revolution and mental derangement.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)