What is the difference between a motor, a generator, and an engine?
The terms are sometimes all used interchangeably. An engine is any device that produces a useful effect, a crowbar is the engine of choice to move a rock, etc. Your mind is the engine that could creat a best-selling novel, or engineer a bank heist (I hate the way engineer is used sometimes!). Therefore the gas-burning motor in a motorcar is the engine that drives it. In the field of electric power, motors use electricity to create motion (there are linear and rotary motors) and generators use motion to create electricity (there are linear and rotary generators). There are also motor-generator sets, for example where an AC motor drives a DC generator (or the reverse). There are also reversible units such that when driven they act like generators and supply electricity but when supplied with electricity they act as motors. The bottom line is that when you use the terms motor, generator or engine you must make it clear which you are discussing unless it is clear in context (my engine over
