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Nicole Schoettler

Sweigart
Catapult Operation and Application
10 February 2015

Steam power is power generated by steam meaning steam can be created and travel
through a system which provides power. Steam is typically created by heating a substance
such as water; then the steam expands and cools in a system providing power to the complete
system.
An example of a complete system is a steam engine. The components of a steam
engine include water, a water pump, an energy source, an expander, a condenser, a reservoir,
and controls. The water is needed to create the steam used in the system, and the energy
source is used to heat the water to turn it into steam. The water pump is used to add pressure
to the water. The expander is used to retrieve the work produced from the steam as the water
is heated and expands. The condenser is used to condense the excess steam into liquid form;
the reservoir is used to contain the condensed water in order to reuse later. Finally, the
controls are used to adjust and maintain the entire system, as well as power it on and off. As in

any steam power systems, there are many components required to change water into steam
into power.
Steam power can also be used as a power source for the industrial society. In huge
steam power plants, nuclear fuels or fossil fuels are used as the power source to heat the water
and change it into steam. The huge amount of steam that is created rises and expands which
turns turbines. These turbines are attached to electric generators. As the steam turns the
turbines, energy is produced and captured in the generators. Excess waste such as water and
chemical pollutants are found after each power cycle through the whole system. The excess
water is not typically saved and reused in a reservoir due to the pollutants found in the water
from the fuels used as the energy source. These power plants must discard all waste safely and
carefully due to their harmful effects on the environment.
Steam power can be found in few technologies today. However, many are working to
implement steam power in automotive technology, electric power generation, motorcycles,
buses, locomotives, ships, water purification and pumping, and manufacturing and food
processing. Steam power is being developed as a sustainable energy source in order to
decrease or remove the oil-based technologies found in the previous list.
Currently steam power is found mainly in power plants as an energy source. Steam
power used to have a huge impact on society. For example, the steam engine was widely
implemented on ships. Over time, steam power became less significant as newer, sustainable,
and condensed technologies were discovered.
Steam power was used in the development of automotive technology, elevators,
mining, and printing. The first true automobile, created by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, was
powered by steam. It was a heavy, slow tricycle made in 1769. Later in England, elevators
were created using hydraulic lifts and eventually powered by steam. In printing technology,
the idea of steam power drove researchers to come up with a way to combine the different

parts of the process of printing into one system similarly to the system of a steam powered
device. The steam engine was very important for mining. It was used to remove the water that
flowed into deep mines to keep the mining safe and dry for the workers.
Steam power had a huge impact on society throughout history; however, todays
society has grown away from it. Steam power is a very good source or energy and should
continue to be used as a clean power source when produced in a small environment. If sources
other than nuclear and fossil fuels are used, steam power is a very good energy source for
small devices such as steam engines.
Sources
http://www.steampower.com/steampower.html
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam-electric/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/564517/steam-power

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