ORIGINAL: Destiny-RCU
They both run on different types of fuel....A gas engine is like a chainsaw engine...Runs on normal pump gas that you get for your car mixed with oil.
A glow engine runs on glow fuel which is usually a mixture of nitromethane and castor oil or synthetic for most sport fuels.
If you're in a conversation about electric vs. gas you could assume it means glow and gas fuels.
But if you're comparing glow vs. gas....Technically they are both "gas" but they use different fuels and have different purposes.
Gas engines are also 4 stroke ( they do make 2 stroke but I have never seen one on an airplane)
glow engines have 2 stroke and 4 stroke types
Actually, glow fuel is a mixture of methanol and oil. It may or may not have nitromethane added. Sport fuels generally contain 5% to 15% nitro, FAI fuel has no nitro, some special purpose fuels have much higher proportions of nitro. They are not both gas. Gas is gasoline, petrol. Glow fuel is not gas. They are both wet, however.
The gas engines in automobiles are 4 stroke designs: the gas engines used in model aircraft are 2 stroke designs (like a chain saw or string trimmer) although a couple 4 stroke versions are being marketed recently for model usage, they are heavy and not as powerful as the 2 stroke versions.