Question

What basic principle do reciprocating engines operate off of?

Answer 1

Reciprocating engines operate on the basis principle of converting fuel/chemical energy into mechanical energy.

Step-by-step explanation:

These are piston engines that uses up and down motions of pistons to convert pressure into rotational motion. The common types of a reciprocating engines are :

• internal combustion engine
• steam engine
• stirling engine

The engine utilizes 4 processes to complete a cycle, which are;

• Intake-where a fuel mixture is put into the through the intake port
• Compression-where the fuel mixture is pushed to the top by the piston to compress it and ignite it through the spark plug
• Ignition- where the ignition pushes the piston back down to produce useful work
• Exhaust-the waste chemical are eliminated out via the exhaust port and the cycle repeats.

These processes indicate that chemical energy in the fuel mixture is converted to mechanical energy causing motion.