air (air-cooled) or liquid (usually water) cooling, while some very hot engines using radiative cooling (especially some rocket engines). Some high-altitude rocket engines use ablative cooling, where the walls gradually erode in a controlled fashion. Rockets in particular can use regenerative cooling, which uses the fuel to cool the solid parts of the engine. Piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines. It is located in a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. Its purpose is to transfer force from expanding gas in the cylinder to the crankshaft via a piston rod and/or connecting rod. In two-stroke engines the piston also acts as a valve by covering and uncovering ports in the cylinder wall. Propelling nozzle For jet engine forms of internal combustion engines, a propelling nozzle is present. This takes the high temperature, high pressure exhaust and expands and cools it. The exhaust leaves the nozzle going at much higher speed and provides thrust, as well as constricting the flow from the engine and raising the pressure in the rest of the engine, giving greater thrust for the exhaust mass that exits. Crankshaft Most reciprocating internal combustion engines end up turning a shaft. This means that the linear motion of a piston must be converted into rotation. This is typically achieved by a crankshaft. Flywheels The flywheel is a disk or wheel attached to the crank, forming an inertial mass that stores rotational energy. In engines with only a single cylinder the flywheel is essential to carry energy over from the power stroke into a subsequent compression stroke. Flywheels are present in most reciprocating engines to smooth out the power delivery over each rotation of the crank and in most automotive engines also mount a gear ring for a starter. The rotational inertia of the flywheel also allows a much slower minimum unloaded speed and also improves the smoothness at idle. The flywheel may also perform a part of the balancing of the system and so by itself be out of balance, although most engines will use a neutral balance for the flywheel, enabling it to be balanced in a separate operation. The flywheel is also used as a mounting for the clutch or a torque converter in most automotive applications. Starter systems All internal combustion engines require some form of system to get them into operation. Most piston engines use a starter motor powered by