Understanding Physics pp 505-547 | Cite as
The Electric Age
Chapter
Abstract
In Chapter 6, we discussed the development of steam engines during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These engines enabled industrialization by making available the vast stores of energy contained in coal, wood, and oil. By burning fuel, chemical energy is converted into heat energy, which in turn can be used to boil water to produce steam. By letting the steam expand against a piston or a turbine blade, heat energy can be converted to mechanical energy. In this way, a steam engine can power machinery.
Keywords
Wind Turbine Steam Turbine Heat Engine Light Bulb Electromagnetic Induction
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Further Reading
- R.V. Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, In: C.W. Pursell, Jr., ed., Technology in America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989), pp. 105–116.Google Scholar
- J.J. Flink, Henry Ford and the Triumph of the Automobile, In: C.W. Pursell., Jr., ed., Technology in America ( Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989 ), pp. 172–173.Google Scholar
- M. Brower, Cool Energy: Renewable Solutions to Environmental Problems (Cambridge, NIA: MIT Press, 1992 ).Google Scholar
- R. Rhodes and D. Bollen, The Need for Nuclear Power, Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2000, 30–44.Google Scholar
Copyright information
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2002