A car engine basically has thousands of mini explosions happening inside of it, is has parts moving very fast and generating tons of heat, and experiences extreme temperature fluctuations on a daily basis. Yet it is the part that usually dies last in a car.
How do they make them last so long and why are we unable to make other parts of the car as long lasting, such as tires and brakes?
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First of all, quick clarification – what happens inside a cylinder are NOT mini explosions, under normal operation, what happens are controlled burns. An explosion is a sudden and violent release of energy; a controlled burn is a fast but gradual release. Mini explosions are called ping and it can be catastrophic.
With regards to high temperatures, yes combusion can reach thousands of degrees, but since they only last for fractions of a seconds this is why parts won’t melt.
As long as your cooling system can transfer the heat out at a fast enough rate that engine can go on living.
Others have given very good answers, so I won’t repeat them here. As far as making stuff like brakes last longer, fiction is your enemy. Metal on metal parts inside an engine run on a thin film of oil, but anywhere where energy conversion happens through friction you are limited to how much longevity that component will achieve.
EDIT: fat fingered my response, fixed some grammar
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