Steam Engine

A steam engine is an external combustion heat engine that makes use of the heat energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work.

Steam engines were used as the prime mover in pumping stations, locomotives, steam ships, traction engines, steam lorries and other road vehicles. They were essential to the Industrial Revolution and saw widespread commercial use driving machinery in factories and mills, although most have since been superseded by internal combustion engines and electric motors.

Steam turbines, technically a type of steam engine, are still widely used for generating electricity. About 86% of all electric power in the world is generated by use of steam turbines.

A steam engine requires a boiler to heat water into steam. The expansion or contraction of steam exerts force upon a piston or turbine blade, whose motion can be harnessed for the work of turning wheels or driving other machinery. One of the advantages of the steam engine is that any heat source can be used to raise steam in the boiler; but the most common is a fire fueled by wood, coal or oil or the heat energy generated in a nuclear reactor.