Topic summary

motor

motor

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Engine.

Terminology

Motor and engine are interchangeable in standard English. In some engineering jargons, the two words have different meanings, in which engine is a device that burns or otherwise consumes fuel, changing its chemical composition, and a motor is a device driven by electricity, air, or hydraulic pressure, which does not change the chemical composition of its energy source. However, rocketry uses the term rocket motor, even though they consume fuel.