Steam Engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed by a connecting rod and crank into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is normally applied to reciprocating engines, although some authorities have also referred to the steam turbine and devices such as Hero's aeolipile as "steam engines". The essential feature of steam engines is that they are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle. In general usage, the term "steam engine" can refer to either complete steam plants, such as railway steam locomotives and portable engines, or may refer to the piston or turbine machinery alone, as in the beam engine and stationary steam engine.

Steam

Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air and/or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur by evaporation or by boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Superheated or saturated steam is invisible; however, wet steam, a visible mist or aerosol of water droplets, is often referred to as "steam".

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.

steam engine

Noun

1. Any heat engine that uses steam as its primary working fluid to do mechanical work.
2. A piston engine driven by steam.