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Is it "ENGINE" or "MOTOR" ???

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angelfj1

angelfj1

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As an electrical engineer, I have never referred to a MOTOR as an ENGINE. Why is it that your typical motorhead usually uses the term "motor" to describe an internal combustion "engine"? Which term is correct?
 
An engine is typically a machine for converting thermal energy into mechanical energy or power to produce force and motion. Although, the dictionary also states that an engine can be a motor, but generally only in smaller sizes, such as those in an automobile. The engine on a ship would never be called a motor. Electrically, a motor is not an engine, but an engine can be referred to as a motor, if the size fits. So there, call that thing under the hood what you want, but don't call an electric motor an engine. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif
 
When one drives their beloved TR through the countryside, they go motoring about , not engining about .
 
In the UK the motive force is always an engine never a motor.
Of course we could also go on about bonnets, boots, aerials and a few other items that are mis-named on this side of the pond!
I like Art's definition, confusing as it is!
 
In the uk it's more common to call the whole vehicle rather than the engine a 'motor'. At least it was where I came from...
 
In the French language, the motor is "le motor". In F1, the French call Honda, Renault or BMW "le motorist". They supply the "motors" to the cars they sponsor. In France, an "engine" is any large power item, like a train locomotive or the device that powers a ship.
 
Well, I can't say which is a better description, but I certainly can't call the engine in my Spitfire a "powerplant".


Adam H.
____________________________________________________________
1973 Triumph Spitfire.
 
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Why is it that your typical motorhead usually .....

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I personally like RADIOHEAD , the group.......
 
Language is living, and is the most democratic aspect of our lives. Words mean what the people using them want them to mean. Whatever the distinction between motor and engine may have been in the past, and regardless of what scientific or engineering meanings thay may have had, we the people have decided that the "motivational lump" under the hood can be called either a motor or an engine, and we the people have decided that ether term is correct. Therefore, either term IS correct.

In the past, "decimate" meant to reduce BY 10%. It has now come to mean to almost completely destroy. And "penultimate" still means "next to last" even as it's usage is slowly being changed to mean a superlative form of "the ultimate."

And so it goes, as language evolves. No matter how hard the French government tries to retain the "purity" of the French language, it won't happen. French word usage will change and foreign words will creep into the French language just as it does eveywhere else.
 
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The engine on a ship would never be called a motor.

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True, but a merchant ship with a diesel is registered as M/V or Motor Vessel.

And, the steering gear on a ship is referred to as the steering engine (from days of steam), yet now powered by electric motors.

Then there are submarines, which are called boats (because they were once transported on ships), can displace 20,000 tons or as much as a WWII aircraft carrier.

And on it goes.
 
A motorized vehicle may be powered by an engine or a motor. From this it seems motor is a more generic term where the motor is a gas combustion engine, and electric motor , or both. So maybe engine is more of a physics term.

But should we call it EngineSports or MotorSports? Or is "should" a bad word?
 
My brain huts
 
WHO CARES??? SHEESH!!!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angel.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif Mickey
 
My company is called "Empire Motorworks" and although I do rebuild engines, I restore the whole car more often than not. "Motor" in my mind, refers more to the abstract concept of the whole "motoring" experince....
Great, Now my head hurts too!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
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Why is it that your typical motorhead usually .....

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I personally like RADIOHEAD , the group.......

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But Lemmy ROCKS! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
All engines are motors.

Not all motors are engines.

No motor has too much power.

Some engines pull trains.

Powerplants have smokestacks.

British motors/engines/powerplants leak oil on the garage floor.
 
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