Why is petrol used as fuel for cars and not coal?
Petrol, or gasoline for non-British, is a liquid fuel. You can’t have an internal combustion engine with a solid fuel. Coal was used for some of the first experiments with “horseless wagons”, using an external combustion engine similar to steam-powered locomotives of the time. An internal combustion engine is simply far more efficient, and less bulky.
Gasoline or petrol is more volatile in nature and is easier to carry in the fuel tank of a motor vehicle. Since internal combustion engines run on liquid fuel (gas and diesel), it will not be effecient by using a coal engine which was used decades ago. To understand the working of a IC engine, this link http://www.automotix.net/autorepair/engine_repair_guide.html will give a clearer picture of a petrol enine.
