Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Engines or Motors?

On the Facebook Model Rocket Fanatics page, Douglas Ferguson posted:
"I am sitting here thinking. Why do people interchange the word "motor" and "engine"? Do these individuals not know that that "motors" run on electricity, while "engines" run on a form of combustion?
Therefore unless you have a model rocket that is powered by electricity, they are NOT "Rocket Motors" but "Rocket Engines". Sorry for the rant, it is a pet peeve of mine."
Doug Wade Responded:
NASA - engine
"A machine or apparatus that converts energy, especially heat energy, into work. Also called motor." 


If you've been in the hobby as long as I have, we call them engines out of habit. It's what we read in the catalogs and how we came to use that nomenclature.




The Estes 1973 catalog -
Vern wouldn't lie to us, would he?





The Centuri 1973 Catalog -
Lee wouldn't lie to us, would he?




Even in the liquid fueled (Freon) Vashon catalog from the early 1970s -
Sorry - don't know who that guy is.

4 comments:

  1. The statement that motors run (only) on electricity is (IMHO) just plain wrong. Detroit's (Motor City) cars were all gasoline fueled. Also a propulsion system using ions that are accelerated by electricity is called an ion drive or ion thruster, not an ion "motor".

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  2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motor So, if an engine can be called a motor, can a motor be called an engine? There will never be an accepted answer but it will be discussed almost as often as glue. Oh no! I made this a glue thread :eek:

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  3. http://www.rocketry.org.za/node/242
    http://www.braeunig.us/space/propuls.htm#engine
    according to the above, "rocket motor" would be the term to use for what is used in model rocketry.

    on the other hand...
    https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/rocket/rktengine.html

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    Replies
    1. Hi Naoto,
      The debate will continue! Out of habit, I still call them engines.

      Delete