With that installed, the solenoids click away and spin the crankshaft ... the proof of concept that these tiny electric engines actually work is a welcomed addition to [Emiel]’s collection ...

But this isn’t an internal combustion engine, it gets its power from electric solenoids. We featured his single-cylinder build about a month ago, and since then he’s been busy with this ...

A coil of wire, or solenoid, consists of a wire coiled up into a spiral shape. When an electric current flows, the shape of the magnetic field is very similar to the field of a bar magnet.