Originally posted by Xorand:
Engine's not necessarily inefficient. All internal combustion engines put out a lot of heat as a byproduct of combustion.
Because of all this lost heat, internal combustion engines, comparatively, are highly inefficient.
As a matter of fact, only 20% of the power produced is used, and pretty much the rest is lost as heat. And then consider power loss from the crank to the wheel. So 20% more out of that 20% that's usable is lost again.
There you have it.
ETA: [url= http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/102spring2002_Web_projects/Z.Yates/Zach\'s%20Web%20Project%20Folder/EICE%20-%20Main.htm]More on this.[/url]
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