internal-combustion engine

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An internal-combustion engine goes through four strokes: intake, compression, combustion (power), and exhaust. As the piston moves during each stroke, it turns the crankshaft.

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internal-combustion engine

Written by Charles Lafayette Proctor

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 • Article History

internal-combustion engine

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Category: Science & Tech

Key People:: Nicéphore Niépce; Gottlieb Daimler; Étienne Lenoir; Karl Benz; Ole Evinrude

Related Topics:: gasoline engine; jet engine; diesel engine; emission control system; ignition system

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Mar. 21, 2024, 5:41 AM ET (MSN)

Porsche 911 To Keep Internal Combustion Engine "As Long As Possible"

Mar. 19, 2024, 5:41 AM ET (MSN)

Bentley Rows Back on End of Internal Combustion

internal-combustion engine, any of a group of devices in which the reactants of combustion (oxidizer and fuel) and the products of combustion serve as the working fluids of the engine. Such an engine gains its energy from heat released during the combustion of the nonreacted working fluids, the oxidizer-fuel mixture. This process occurs within the engine and is part of the thermodynamic cycle of the device. Useful work generated by an internal-combustion (IC) engine results from the hot gaseous products of combustion acting on moving surfaces of the engine, such as the face of a piston, a turbine blade, or ...(100 of 484 words)

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