Iv used those cheap lighters that use a quick spark to ignite the gas, but after a couple weeks they die out. How are the ones in engines so reliable and last for so long?
Furthermore, how can they fire at JUST the right time, thousands of times a second?
Thanks in advance
In: Engineering
Others have covered the why, so I’ll mention the what: Modern spark plugs are usually a layer of aluminum-based ceramic (a very good insulator) surrounding a conductive metal. Usually, the spark gap has either copper and iridium, or platinum as the metal conductor part. These are dense, nonreactive metals, so they only wear away very slowly over time. Since this is very old technology, over 160 years at this point, we’ve had a very long time to refine them to be about as good as they can get.
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