HEMI: What Does It Stand For And What Does It Do?

So you call yourself a car enthusiast? Are you really a car enthusiast as they say? If so, one must've heard of the HEMI. What does HEMI stand for? Once I heard the word, the first thing which came to mind was the word hemisphere. Fortunately, the word hemisphere does have something to do with the abbreviation. It actually stands for hemispherical combustion engine. It is an internal-combustion engine which is of hemispherical form.

Once upon a time, this combustion chamber was used in weapons such as mortars and cannons. It was after much progress that it was used in automotive engines. Ever since 1901, these hemispherical, cylinder heads have been helping push the automotive car industry further ahead (No pun intended). This engine has definitely served the industry well even until today. It has proved to be much better than the flathead engine, and was the main reason allowing the 1951 Chrysler design to produce more power than the rest. This was primarily because of the design and the efficiency of the combustion chamber.

In the HEMI engine, the spark plug, which produces a jolt of electricity to power the car, is placed right above the combustion chamber and the valves open facing each other on opposite sides of the chamber.

Due to its excellent design, there are many advantages of the HEMI engine. For example, it is possible to fit more valves in the engine because the design allows the valves to be opposite and this enables there to be more valves and it is most definitely a better thing to have more valves because more valves equal more power. Besides that, the unique placement of the valves allow for better airflow, lessening overheating of the engine. Another plus side is that an engine should not lose too much heat because losing too much heat will only cause there to be low peak pressure. Due to the small surface area of the engine, less heat escapes and therefore there is more pressure as compared to a flathead engine which has a larger surface area because of its "box" Design. Seeing that the spark plug is directly above the combustion chamber, it encourages proper fuel burning making sure there is no energy waste and this allows more fuel to be burnt efficiently indirectly saving money on ever rising fuel prices and at the same time producing more power.

Today, the engine is a living testimony of how mankind has certainly gone a long way since the beginning of time. Up until today, many car companies have used this design in the production of their cars. As a matter of fact, all Chrysler cars use only this design. There have been modifications to this design but without changing the basic concept of it.













Stuart is writing for many websites, He enjoys writing on wide range of topics such as what does hemi stand for and 4WD cars. You may visit for more details.