How Combustion Really Makes Horsepower

Your car engine is basically tricking you because combustion is not an instant explosion.

It is actually a controlled burn that happens in three distinct stages. First,

the spark hits before the piston even reaches the top, but the fire starts incredibly slow.

Then comes the chaos phase called flame propagation. The engine intentionally swirls the air to

make that flame travel ten times faster, creating all the actual horsepower.

By the time it hits the cylinder walls, the pressure fades out. The wildest part

is that for peak performance, you actually want a tiny bit of engine knock right at the

end.