CA’s Upper School physics students were treated to a hands-on way to learn about the Laws of Thermodynamics and the principles of a four-stroke cycle engine.

 The four-stroke is an internal combustion engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes—intake, compression, power, and exhaust—during two separate revolutions of the engine's crankshaft, and one single thermodynamic cycle.

By taking apart lawnmowers with operations crew member and mechanic Willy Cervantes, the students learned about the flywheel, the crank shaft, and then connected the four-stroke cycle to the first law of thermodynamics—namely, energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Through the take-apart exercise, students learned that converted energy stored in gasoline becomes useful work (a piston moving that will eventually move a blade to cut the grass). Looking ahead, says Physics teacher Abby McKenna, students will be discussing the philosophical implications of the second and third laws of thermodynamics. The laws of thermodynamics are important fundamental laws in physics, and they are applicable in other natural sciences.