Thursday, March 25, 2010
For my capstone project, I decided to study the steam engine. To determine which technology to study, I researched many different options on EBSCO host. While researching this database, I found a very interesting article, “The Power of the Past” by Jean Thilmany, which was published in the Sept 2009 edition of Mechanical Engineering Magazine. In this article, Thilmany discusses how even though most people think of it as old and out of date, the steam engine is still being studied and improved upon. The article also talks about how lost to time or neglect exist only in inventors' notebooks. Gould said, “We're not trying to create new objects. Mostly, we're taking systems already designed and proven 150 years ago, and beautifying them a little." The fact that this technology has been around for so long and is still being improved upon is what made me choose the steam engine for my project.
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I'm thinking Chug a chug a chug. The steam powered engine huh. Good luck its a very interesting and inc readable part of our history.
ReplyDeleteThe steam engine is very old, although i think humans should rethink the engine. We should create a new way of how we power our engines. According to research, car egines only work at 10% efficiency. If this is true, how is it we can't even get more than 10%. Looking foward to hearing your report, good luck
ReplyDeleteThe problem I see with it is that you have to heat up water to produce steam so you need a source of energy able to do it. Also you need lots of water, and I would be curios to know what type of power does it put out reported to the energy you put in. Other wise it is an interesting subject. We no longer really use it since the combustion engine invention but it had a huge impact on the development and evolution of man kind.
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