I've been trying to search on the internet ofr about an hour and I have not found a satisfying answer about how compression works in an engine. Can anyone help me out.

What is an example of high compression? Low compression?

How does your compression change your HP ratings?

Any other useful info would be great. Or if you have a link to any useful info that what would great too.

 

I just did i quick search on how stuff works.com and couldnt find it directly but here is a paragraph about what they said under how octan works.

"The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more."

Just trying to help dont critize me if that wasnt what you were looking for.

 

Not to be disrespectful, but it sounds like a basic primer on how the 4-cycle internal combustion engine works is in order. That should encompass the whole principle of compression and combustion. Although i haven't read thru this compilation, and I'm sure there are much more comprehensive books and articles out there, you might want to start with this:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm

 

I'm not going to criticize anyone, I'm just looking for info. Thanks for your help. It was useful. But I still have much more to learn.