How Does an Engine Work?

The engines that power propeller airplanes and jetliners, the rockets that carried astronauts to the Moon, even the engine in your family car, operate on the same basic principles.

1. The engine mixes fuel with oxygen or another oxidizer under pressure in a combustion chamber. (Rockets that use solid fuel do not require pressurization.)
2. The mixture is ignited.
3. The burning mixture creates hot, expanding exhaust gases.
4. The exhaust gases either produce thrust directly (in jet and rocket engines) or are used to push a piston or drive a turbine.

(Rev. 09/17/96)