This DVD offers an insight into the historical birth of the Otto engine and also describes its latest version – the hybrid engine. In addition, other engines of the future are covered. The life and achievements of Nikolaus August Otto are dis- cussed, with all his successes and failures, from his first en- gineering attempts when reconstructing the Lenoir engine to the presentation of the “atmospheric gas engine” on the Paris World Fair through to his cooperation with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. The mode of operation of the Otto engine is explained to the pupils in detail, also with the help of a variety of animations and diagrams. The DVD goes into the four strokes of intake, compression, power and exhaust as well as the Otto engine as energy converter. Crude oil is one of our most important sources of energy. Besides outlining the evolution and processing of crude oil into fuel, this DVD puts emphasis on the increasing shortage of global crude oil resources. Alternative propulsion sources like hybrid engines as well as hydrogen-fuelled or gas-fuelled vehicles offer an environmental-friendly vision for the automobile’s future in times of global climate change.
