"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.
"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.
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".
ReplyDeletehttps://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:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rocketry.org.za/node/242
ReplyDeletehttp://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
Hi Naoto,
DeleteThe debate will continue! Out of habit, I still call them engines.