I know some people may have read this title, shook their heads, maybe banged their head on the desk a couple times, and kept scrolling. For some, it’s quite an easy concept. However, due to some recent events, I have realized it may not be so clear to others. I was working a couple of weeks back, when I got my new car, and everyone was asking about it. My go-to reply was I really enjoy it (and I genuinely do), but, of course, it is a used car, about 15 years old, and it naturally comes with imperfections. Something I have to fix is the lean mixture in the engine. If you’re reading this and nodding your head, you know exactly what I’m talking about and why it could be so problematic (though my case is likely minor). For those who are confused, like one of my co-workers, I tried to explain in laymen’s terms, until I eventually said ‘cars are powered by tiny explosions’, and – mind – BLOWN. She had no idea that that was how cars work (in very simple terms). And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make fun of anyone for lack of knowledge, I have plenty of a lack myself. However, I do believe it is important for people to understand the basics of an object that they see thousands of per day, and likely use at least once per day. The car, and how it works.

Where to begin….. I suppose the gas tank is best. If you don’t know how a car works, you should at least know you put gas in it, and you get power out. An easier concept to grasp. But how? From the tank, a mechanism applies pressure to the liquid fuel to move it towards the engine in front via gas lines. Here, those lines connect to the top of the engine. Pause on the fuel. Under the hood of your car, somewhere in some form, you have an intake. The engine pulls a constant vacuum, sucking air in through this intake. This feeds into the intake manifold, again, attaching to the top of your engine block (where the fun stuff happens). Now with two components ready to be mixed (oxygen and fuel), small nozzles called valves control the mixture of air and fuel, and release them into a chamber called – drum roll – the combustion chamber. This is where a spark plug, a small device, creates a spark and lights that air/fuel mixture and forces a hefty piece of cylindrical metal – called a piston – downwards. Shortly after, due to the cycle of the engine, the depleted mixture is pushed out of the combustion chamber, and out your exhaust. Back to the piston. This piston is attached indirectly to the crankshaft of your car, which turns that aggressive downward motion into rotational motion – and through series of gears and connections, turns the wheels of your car.

And there you have it. I cut a few corners and left out a lot of parts for the sake of time and simplicity, but this is fundamentally how your car works (motorcycles, generators, and other gasoline engines too!).

Hopefully I taught someone something new today, and if I did, I’d love to hear it or any other questions you might have. Or, if you read this post to confirm your thoughts or to see how much I know, let me know how I did.

“In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.”– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Keep questioning out there.