[SEL] Flywheel dangers

[John Culp]

> Sooooo John...
> There are a lot of variables that remain undefined in your
> and Arnie's scenarios, so we'll just stick with what's been
> said so far.
>
> Your above email states that the engine running on gaso
> inducts fuel on every cycle, yet only burns fuel on every
> other cycle.  My intuition tells me that would not be very
> efficient, yet you claim that it is still more efficient
> than an engine running on kerosene that derives power from
> every cycle.
>
> That is indeed a paradox.

Not at all. We're talking about an idling engine, which by definition 
is 0% efficient overall.

The combustion efficiency and conversion of fuel energy to work on a 
single power stroke of that idling engine is higher on gasoline. That's 
why it throttles down, wasting most of the fuel inducted on alternate 
cycles.

John Culp
Bristol, Tennessee, USA