On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 2:36 PM, <ditter2@...> wrote:
Yea, a good example that comes to mind is the piston gasoline engine in several hundred million cars. Most bright kids in junior high school who study momentum would question the stupidity of having all that mass in all the pistons reversing several dozen times a second. And this is suppose to be efficient?
Assuming this is serious: The momentum of the pistons is not relevant
in computing the efficiency of an engine. The question is whether the
kinetic energy of the pistons is somehow wasted when they reverse
direction... and it is not.
Also, consider the fact that Wankel engines are always less efficient
than equivalent piston engines...
