Car

How do cars work?

The four-stroke internal combustion engine is usually the machine that powers cars, trucks, generators.

It has four strokes:

1. On the first (downward) stroke of the piston, fuel/air is drawn into the cylinder.
2. The following (upward) stroke compresses the fuel-air mixture, which is then ignited by a spark.
3. The ignited fuel-air mixture burns to create expanding exhaust gases, which force the piston downward for the third stroke.
4. The final (upward) stroke evacuates the spent exhaust gasses from the cylinder.