It's time for another terminology rant: Motor vs. Engine

[Diggley]

Have we covered "wheels vs. rims" yet?..

Yes, and I still have the nightmares.... can we please not go there again.....

Alex

[Lowgear]

Ha, I just saw a commercial the other day for the Mr. Clean eraser product and they said you could use it on car rims.

[arf]

My Porsche mechanic used to say:

"Yah, un ve're gonna dune up dat moder."

[civilguy]

Ha, I just saw a commercial the other day for the Mr. Clean eraser product and they said you could use it on car rims.

Those things take the paint right off your wall... originally they were marketed to remove crayon, etc and we bought some (having kids... and stuff on our walls). I ended up doing a sheetrock repair it was so bad!!

[Lowgear]

Well the claim was that they removed crayon from walls. They just didn't say how.

[markbt73]

Here's an interesting discussion on that very topic: http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=206484

I tend to agree with this idea: "an engine is a motor which converts thermal energy to mechanical energy, and a motor is a machine that converts energy to motion (or propulsion). So my contention is that all engines are motors, but not all motors are engines."

Just my 2 cents. I'm not an engineer, but I was an English major.

[Coelacanth]

Here's an interesting discussion on that very topic: http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=206484

I tend to agree with this idea: "an engine is a motor which converts thermal energy to mechanical energy, and a motor is a machine that converts energy to motion (or propulsion). So my contention is that all engines are motors, but not all motors are engines."

Just my 2 cents. I'm not an engineer, but I was an English major.

That was pretty much my take on it.

[Incredible_Serious]

Well, this ain't going to make much sense of you mix them up....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhHJ4zEKDZY

Alex

[SRTracer121]

then where the hell does that leave this?!

[Incredible_Serious]

then where the hell does that leave this?!

I'm guessing in with the rest of the basket cases.....

[DennisM]

[SRTracer121]

hey, i resemble that comment sir

[Halgar]

This is talking about transmissions, but the principle is the same.

[youtube]jk_QxHQHM1s[/youtube]

[Coelacanth]

For that matter, why do people call the diffs in their cars "transmissions"? I thought transmissions were a device to shift gears to change the gear ratio...and last time I checked, except for the Tamiya Bruiser and a few rare others, almost NO RC offroad buggies have more than one gear ratio at any given time.

Material for a future rant, right there!

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

For that matter, why do people call the diffs in their cars "transmissions"? I thought transmissions were a device to shift gears to change the gear ratio...and last time I checked, except for the Tamiya Bruiser and a few rare others, almost NO RC offroad buggies have more than one gear ratio at any given time.

Material for a future rant, right there!

I love the scene in Christmas Vacation where Cousin Eddie pulls out of the driveway in the RV and you can really see the differential at work. ALWAYS stands out in my mind in that movie even though it's not supposed to. Anyone else notice that?

For what it's worth I completely agree with the engine motor thing. I don't mind an engine being called a motor so much as I do a motor being called an engine. I rarely "correct" people in real life on anything even when it's killing me not to, but that really "grinds my gears". That quote is from Peter Griffin BTW

Here it is a bit more in it's entirety as I remember it anyway...
"You know what really grinds my gears? Where in the bible does it say that a man can't fire off some knuckle-children in the privacy of his own neighbor's living room while his neighbor's at work because I don't have a DVD player?"