Material Detail

This is a resource to teach students about the four stroke cycle, also called the Otto Cycle. There are two parts of this resource, both of which are useful. The first part is a web page explaining the history of the Otto Cycle, the parts of the engine, and the four strokes of the Otto Cycle. This page does a good job explaining the strokes and is easy to understand even for someone not previously familiar with the cycle. The page also has a bar at several points throughout the page that lets the user jump to whichever section they want quickly rather than scrolling up or down the page. The second part to this resource is a visual simulation of how the Otto Cycle works using both a visualization of a piston and a pressure-volume diagram. Once the user starts the process, the piston moves up and down while there is a point on the diagram that moves along the process path of the cycle. The name of each step is displayed as it is being performed and the key points of the cycle are also labeled on the diagram. The site with the visualization is a German site, however, and although the text is still in English, occasionally it will switch to German causing the user to reload the page if they wish to read the text. Overall, this is a very good resource both for beginning students as well as more experienced ones. The web page provides easy-to-understand, useful information and the visualization is a great representation of the Otto Cycle. This can be used either to introduce students to the Otto Cycle or to give them a better understanding of it. Highly Recommended.

How you reviewed the materials:

I skimmed through the tutorial and then ran through several simulations of the
cycle.

The quality of content:

I liked the synchronized side by side p-V diagram and piston cyclinder
apparatus. It helped to see how each part of the cycle related to the system.

The potential effectiveness for enhancing teaching and learning:

I think it could be effectively used to help anyone who is working with
analyzing the four stroke cycle.

The ease of using the materials:

Very easy to use and didn't require any previous knowledge of the system. It
could be learned from the tutorial and then explained via the application.