Steam engine

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/steam-engine

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific principle?Conversion of thermal energy to mechanical work via steam expansion
2. What is the key innovator?James Watt, credited with significant efficiency improvements
3. What is a steam engine and how does it work?A steam engine turns hot steam into moving power. Fuel heats water in a boiler, steam pushes a piston, and the piston’s motion turns a crank to make machines move.
4. Who invented the first steam engine that could pump water out of mines?Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen made early steam engines, but Newcomen’s engine in the early 1700s was the first to pump water out of mines.

Reciprocating Motion: Movement back and forth in a straight line, characteristic of a piston.
Thermodynamics: The branch of physics dealing with heat and its relation to other forms of energy and work.
Steam Turbine: A rotary engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work.