How Does Steam Power Work?
“Steam Locomotive No. 844 – Del Rio, TX” by Charles & Clint is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
One of the biggest events in engineering was the invention of the steam engine. This made transport and automation infinitely better. The problem is over the years people have forgotten about this invention and even more have no idea how it works so today I will explain the device that revolutionized transportation.
Steam Powered Generator
This device is fairly simple there is a chamber where water is put in and heated in to steam. That steam travels through a pipe to the next chamber where the steam is released and pushes fans or turbines. The turbines turn because of the force of the steam it makes the wire coil in the next chamber move in and out of a electromagnetic field causing electrons to flow into the wire coil thus creating an electrical charge. Though this may seem like a out dated and inefficient idea 20% of American power is made up of steam power because nuclear reactors just use nuclear fission to get heat instead of coal or wood.
Steam Piston
The steam piston has the same sort of idea as the generator but just has a different outcome. With the steam piston the steam travels into a chamber that has two holes leading up.These holes shoot the steam into different sides of the piston. The way they make the steam go to different sides is by having a box connected to the wheel.The Box then goes back and forth in time with the wheel creating a way for the steam to push the piston back and forth. Now that the steam can reach both sides the steam can push the piston to rotate the wheel. A reason you want a big wheel connected to this is it keeps the kinetic energy and helps keep the same amount of energy without getting a big spike and then no energy afterwards.
