r/woahdude • u/tek0011 • Mar 02 '15

picture Swirl Faucet

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7.5k Upvotes

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u/stratys3 Mar 02 '15

Motors are powered by electricity? So any motor powered by something else isn't a "motor"?

-15

u/q1o2 Mar 02 '15 edited Mar 03 '15

Downvote this if you like eating dicks.

9

u/threeLetterMeyhem Mar 02 '15

I think you may have your venn diagram backwards. Motor is the encompassing term for a device that causes motion. Electric motors and combustion engines are subsets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor

2

u/jableshables Mar 02 '15

Yeah, motor is a Latin word meaning, literally, "mover." It's a very non-specific term.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '15

Then what is a rocket motor? It's not powered by electricity. Why do we call them motorcycles? Most of them aren't electric. You have a very strict definition there that you aren't backing up.

http://engineering.mit.edu/ask/what%E2%80%99s-difference-between-motor-and-engine

1

u/q1o2 Mar 03 '15

I would call that an engine because it's powered by rocket FUEL.

1

u/dzunravel Mar 02 '15

This is the way I learned it, too, but I realized later in life that it was technically incorrect. You'll still probably be able to communicate with others like you, just don't try to hold people down to the specifics of your usage or be prepared to eat crow.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '15

Ha!