What’s A Hemi?
Welcome to the first installment of our (hopefully) weekly Q&A section. Our first question comes from inquisitive reader… uh, it's really just me… but let's pretend I'm an inquisitive reader. I wrote, "I see these Hemi ads all over the place and I know it has to do with cars and engines but what does it mean?" Our answer is brought to you by Wikipedia.
Hemi (from "hemisphere")is a design of internal-combustion engines in which the cylinder head's combustion chamber is of hemispherical form. The term, "Hemi engine", is a trademark of Chrysler Corporation, though the concept is used by many manufacturers. The chamber design puts the intake/exhaust valves in-line, rather than side-by-side, allowing for better flow of air through the head. The spark plug in the center of the chamber makes for better ignition of the fuel/air mixture. These aspects help make the hemi-type engine more efficient and powerful. The hemispherical cylinder head increases the engine's efficiency through reduced thermal energy loss and increased airflow through the engine, but drawbacks such as increased production cost has meant that it has been a rare design.
Something to remember here, is when people start talking about a Hemi ("That thing got a Hemi?"), is that they're probably talking about a Chrysler product since Chrysler just brought it back to the mass market. If you have a question for our weekly Q&A, please post it below or send us an email. We'll select the question that… well, that we know the answer to… we're not a freakin' encyclopedia!
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