Kelsey McIvor

STEM Chemistry 2°
March 12, 2019
Proof of Efficacy

Design Description

To create our project, my group used a small paint can with a hole in the lid to create the
boiler. We then put 150 mL of water into the can and attached a copper pipe in the allotted open
space of the container. After soldering the empty space around the perimeter of the hole and hot
gluing the pipe into place to limit steam lost through any openings, we held the boiler over a
Bunsen Burner by holding the can into place using metal clamps to gradually add gas to create a
flame. Steam was quickly created due to the increase in temperature, exiting through the tip of
the condensed copper pipe at a high pressure. This design was one similar to that of a water mill
without any dependency on gas, using steam as the power source instead.

● Chemical to heat
○ Boiling water
● Heat to Mechanical
○ Using steam to spin wheel
● Mechanical to Electric
○ Spinning Wheel to Spin Motor

Modifications

My group originally planned to build a “classic” steam engine, similar to those

constructed during the early 20th century. Ideally, the machine we hoped to create a boiler filled
with water heated by the Bunsen Burner to create steam at a high pressure. This boiler would
then power a piston and cylinder complex to rotate a cross head and exerting enough energy to
release the steam as exhaust. The planned design is depicted below.

However, my group never truly continued past the planning process of the project. After
realizing the lack of time and materials we had, my group began to adapt the ideal product into a
simpler, more realistic one. We decided to make a boiler that led the steam through a pipe to
push a wheel. This would create electricity as the wheel turned to generate a motor, very similar
to a water mill without the use of gas.
The water vessel is attached to the heat source by metal rods, which heat the water
directly and convert it to steam. The steam initially collects in an area above the water vessel,
known as the dome, before exiting the boiler. The dome forces the steam to become highly
condensed so that it will exit the boiler with a significant amount of pressure. Pressurized steam
is particularly important for industrial applications such as powering turbines and other heavy
equipment. All boilers have a safety valve, which allows excess steam to be released to prevent
explosions. A boiler also contains a drain, which removes contaminants and sediment from the
water vessel, and a chimney, which allows heat to escape once it has passed through the water
vessel.
In essence, metal pipes transfer heat from the furnace to the boiler tank, with the gasses
from the furnace escaping through the smokestack. The the atoms in the water vibrate and
transition from liquid to gas. The newly formed steam builds up pressure and escapes through the
designated pipe. The steam is then used for numerous fields, including brewing, electricity, and
heating units. The following image depicts this process.
 This design plan also failed as the limit of time and materials manifested as problems yet
again. Desperate to produce a successful machine, we analyzed each and every component of the
model, yet failed to create a functioning engine. All modifications were either not executed due
to how unrealistic they were or simply because we couldn’t manage to find a solution. All
materials we tried to substitute for the original plans’ parts either melted due to the high
temperature of both the flame and air pressure or leaked steam.
Unfortunately, all we managed to put together was a rather simple boiler, using a paint
can filled with water to create high pressure steam by heating the container with the flame of a
Bunsen Burner seen below. We filled an empty paint can with 150 mL of water before igniting
the flame, directing the steam out of a copper pipe that we attached through the center of the
container. After soldering and gluing the edges of the pipe in an effort to prevent any steam
leaking, most of the pressure was lost to the surrounding area through this hole as the
temperature melted most of the glue. This design proved to be inefficient, but represented the
idea we had for our project.
 Technical Specifications

Boiling Water:
● Molecules packed together in liquid form
● When heat is added (Bunsen burner) and temperature rises, kinetic energy and molecular
movement increases as a direct result
● Reaches boiling point
○ temperature at which vapor pressure is equal to the gas pressure above it
● Molecules break free of liquid container into gas in form of steam once molecular
movement becomes too high to be contained

Vapor pressure:
● Pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases at a
given temperature in a closed system
● Equilibrium vapor pressure is an indication of a liquid's evaporation rate

Fire:
● Results from combustion
○ Flames are produced at the ​ignition point
○ Releases more energy than required to sustain
■ Produces heat
● Plasma
○ Produced when fire releases enough energy to ionize the gaseous atoms
● Primary composition:
○ Carbon Dioxide (CO​2​)
○ Water Vapor ( 2H​2​O (g) )
○ Oxygen (O​2​)
○ Nitrogen(N​2​)
● Must be present:
○ Fuel
○ Oxygen
○ Energy

Combustion:

● Occurs between a fuel and an oxidizing agent that produces energy, usually in the form of
heat and light (Exothermic)
● Happens when fuel and oxidant react to form oxidized products
● Heat production
○ Double bond between oxygen atoms in O​2​ are weaker than the single bonds or
 other double bonds
● Example
○ 2H​2​(g) + O​2​(g) → 2H​2​O(g) (Hydrogen gas+ Oxygen gas→ Water Vapor)

Plasma

● 4th state of matter

● Production in fire
○ Made by heating a gas until its electrons have sufficient energy to escape the hold
of the positively charged nuclei
● Made of cations
● Can be found in:
○ Television screens
○ Fluorescent lights
○ Lightning
○ Fire

Due to our unsuccessful project, there were no energy outputs or transfers to be measured as the
model we created didn’t produce enough steam to be measured. As a result, the only selling point
of our project was my group’s meticulous research on the conceptual design of steam engines.
The molecular blueprint can be seen below.