Engine vs Motor

After searching and finding nothing but still assuming it has been discussed before, I still need to know....what does everyone have between the frame rails that produces internal combustion, makes noise and propels the vehicle... a engine or a motor?

The reason I bring this up..... it is one of my pet peeves. I know it is probably stupid but after being on the board for a little while now I notice terminology is scrutinized in other arena's so why not throw this one out there for some flaming.

My opinion: Motors drive windshield wipers. Unless what propels your car has a huge battery bank for power.... you have a engine that propels your vehicle and not a motor.

It is my observation that most folks refer to them as motors but I don't think there is any thought put into the term before it is used. So what is the consensus? Engine or Motor?

 

Mill....

 

What ever Webster says if your trying to prove a point, if we're just talking, who gives a shit.

 

if it bugs ya, next time ask for lube oil

 

Ha!!

Sorry... but a mill grinds stuff up. I work in a coal fired powerplant... our mills grind up coal.

I am guessing I opened a can of worms that has been opened many times.

I imagine there are 1000 slang terms

 

A powerplant .

 

Engine = internal combustion
Motor = electric

Feel free to mix that around at leisure.....

 

It has been beat to death a thousand times. Engines, motors, if they make a vehicle move, call it what you like. Most people wont care, and those who do need more to do.

 

An Engine.
Because a Motor is electrical.
And Gas is a vapor, so you can't fill your car with gas from the Gasoline station.
But I really don't care, unless I'm confused, then nobody cares.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm . . . I kind of like the looks of a traditional "Flat Motor" in a rod . . . never heard it called a "Flat Engine"

Call it what you like - as long as you like it and it's cool . . .

 

So, Detroit should be called Engine City, not Motor City?

And Tamla Engtown music will be more famous than Tamla Motown?

And the heavy rock band; Motorhead, well, what can you say.

 

At least it's a traditional misuse of the word, not a modern one like some of the other stuff you hear---bobber pickup, gassers without fenders, etc.
But at the end of the thread, no one is gonna change the way they think, talk, or type because of what's here.
Larry T

 

Interesting, I have a mill and it cuts metal.

Nothing quite like starting an argument just so you can win....

 

Well.........It all depends on what section of the country your standing in at the time. Down south here....the folks that have been born and raised here (me)..we call them motors. Folks over on the west coast and up in the northern region generally call them engines. The correct terminology is engines. But I could give a rats ass. They will always be motors to me.

Sounds kinda fucked up calling a Motorcycle an "Enginecyle" .

 

Yea unless its not really a mill. 9 your shit and my shit are called a mill, the rest of these guys it remains to be seen

OK so on the the monster big question of the day. Motors are electric.

That said I as likely to call the beast a motor as not and I don't really care if anyone thinks I'm stupid or not. It just really doesn't matter to me.

But motors are electric.

now onto bigger n better things.

A locomotive that is steam powered has a steam engine. so why is there no distinction between the internal cumbustion engine and a steam engine when it comes to shortened terminology??? Both are engines. Right???

 

I throw up the white flag, sorry to ruin everyones day. You all are right.. I need to get out to the garage and get some work done on my ride rather than worry about this crap.

 

Engine is not powered by electricity. A motor can be.

 

I heard an interesting description for a steam engine a while back.
An external combustion engine - with full torque available at 0 rpm.

Am I correct in thinking that a gun is an open cycle adiabatic heat engine?

Ya know, some interesting stuff could come from a silly post like this . . . long as we play nice....

 

Tech week over already??

Dammit

 

...

 

Hey this is tech. Sortof.

9 I hadn't heard that about the steam engine interesting.

Here's another one for the books way back before there was wvwe an engine made they called catapults, battering rams, siege towers and other intruments of war engines. Although i don't think they were ever called motors.

Problem with these posts is that they have a tendency to bring out the drama and someone always ends up whinning to Ryan or one of the moderators.

As a matter of fact I'm starting to feel so violated right now has anyone got any cheese?

 

An engine MAKES power.. A motor USES power...

 

Amen.

 

Both convert a form of energy into power and the ability to perform work at a specific rate, thus the terms can be used interchangeably. The biggest difference I see is that "engine" is a noun only. "Motor" can be a noun or a verb.

Bob

 

i need a beer! and maybe a shot..

 

Its an engine. But when Richard Petty gets out of the car and says "we blew the motor" whos gonna argue with the King.

 

To begine with, language and the definitions of words aren't "carved in stone" we have a fluid language in which words can and do change in definition over time and in regional use.
Just think about the various uses of the word GAY over the past century...

The truck I drive came with garish chrome spears on the sides of the hood that say "GENERAL MOTORS TRUCK."
I have them hanging on the garage wall now.

GM is not GE.
GE deals with electricity, and mortgages...
AMTRAK has diesel powered electric GENERATORS that power the Electric ENGINES.
And the Hybrids are sometimes refered to as having a power plant...
Borrowed that one from the local hydro/electric generator much?

I find the MOTOR/ENGINE difference to be more regional than definitive.
Ya won't hear bubba sayin "The engine broke in my stock car."
My Texan Dad called it a MOTOR so I usually do too.
That's the way I learned it, so that sounds right to me.
Them "damn Yankees" up North might or the pickle people who have their driver deliver them in their Packard to the Automobile Concourse probably call that thing they never personally touch an ENGINE...

I think using MILL might be Gray Baskerville "HOTROD JIVE" but it's definitely the hotrodder's name for that thing under the hoo.. between the rails in front of the hoodless firewall.
Yea, a MILL grinds coffee... It's also the name of a tool that can also surface heads, hogg out billet, or weaves cloth.

I got my license to drive from the California Department of MOTOR Vehicles... Not Department of ENGINE Vehicles.
Didn't the British originally call a (they were steam powered) Farm Tractor a "Traction ENGINE"?

I don't think Motor is electric and Engine is gas holds up because model airplanes use Rubberband "Motors".
I think motor is just a relative of the word "motivate".
I just used a
SEARCH ENGINE for "ENGINE" from English to other languages
engine noun

a machine in which heat or other energy is used to produce motion
(notice it says: "or other energy")
Example: The car has a new engine.
Arabic: ????????
Chinese (Simplified): ???
Chinese (Traditional): ???
Czech: motor
Danish: motor
Dutch: motor
Estonian: mootor
Finnish: moottori, kone
French: moteur
German: der Motor
Greek: mhcan?, kinht?raV
Hungarian: motor
Icelandic: vél, hreyfill
Indonesian: mesin
Italian: motore
Japanese: ????
Korean: ??, ??
Latvian: motors; dzine¯js
Lithuanian: variklis, motoras
Norwegian: maskin, motor
Polish: silnik, motor
Portuguese (Brazil): motor
Portuguese (Portugal): motor
Romanian: motor
Russian: ?????????
Slovak: motor
Slovenian: motor
Spanish: motor
Swedish: motor, maskin
Turkish: motor, makine

but from the same source "motor" doesn't seem to get translated to "engine". it says;
motor noun

a machine, usually a petrol engine or an electrical device, that gives motion or power
Example: a washing-machine has an electric motor; (also adjective) a motor boat/vehicle.
So I have to think that MOTOR is a more common term in World languages than engine for that thing that powers a vehicle.

HAPPY MOTORING!

 

I have a motor in my car, I know because the state charges me motor fuel tax. Could the state ever be wrong?