[mamelukesabre]

No, it isn't silly, perhaps you just didn't understand it. You can make a piston float just like the Japanese can make a mag-lev train float above its "tracks", except that in the case of an engine, the "float" would be between the walls of the cylinder and the head of the piston. Using permanent magnets in that manner would reduce the friction of every stroke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

I understand that you don't realize these forces are cycling at a very rapid rate. They are going from zero to maximum several thousand times per minute.

[John Jamieson]

Electronics work real fast.