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How did the James Watt's Steam Engine work?
I am doing a project on James Watt's steam engine and want to know how the engine works to make energy. I researched myself but I find it hard to understand the vocabulary and to understand what it means. Also, when James Watt's first created this steam engine (making adjustments to the Newcomen Engine), what was it used for? I read that it was used for pumping water out of mines, but is this right.
Your answers are greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Newcomen's engine used atmospheric pressure to shut the piston of the steam engine. If you look at the animation on this page…
http://science.howstuffworks.com/steam-technology2.htm
…you can see the piston (the bit moving up and down attached by a chain). It is forced up by hot steam pressure (if you look at a pan of water boiling on the stove it appears vigorous but not powerful, if you put a lid on the pan it is powerful enough to lift the lid off, if you enclose water in a can with a tightly sealed lid it will, when heated, blow the can apart). To get the piston to come back down Newcomen poured cold water into the hot steam via two valves (imagine a tap/faucet) one on the hot steam and one on the cold water from the surface – as soon as the steam cooled its pressure was reduced and atmospheric pressure (being greater than the steam pressure) pushes the piston back down (the cooling is known as condensing).
James Watt looked at the engine and realised that the cooling of the cylinder (the sleeve the piston sits in) was taking time meaning the engine was slow, so he invented a separate condenser, see the animation on this page…
http://science.howstuffworks.com/steam-technology3.htm
The steam is now cooled by water in a separate chamber so the cylinder remains hotter and the condenser remains cooler. The engine became more efficient and was able to move quicker.
The primary purpose of these engines was to pump mines but the linear movement (the up and down) is fairly simple to turn into circular movement, with that adjustment they could be adapted to power machinery like looms.
Career In Mechanical Engineering
Students of today are very conscious about the decision of choosing a subject for their higher studies. The selection for which, mainly depends on the score card achieved at senior secondary examinations. Students are always asked to perform well in their 12th board examinations, because these are the exams, which decide the future of the students. The future career fields are very much dependent on these exams. Also, the choice of sciences or medical in the higher studies or at graduation level depends on the fact that what subject one had in his senior secondary examination. In the field of sciences, it is basically divided into medical and non- medical fields. Engineering is a field which corresponds to the non medical field of sciences.
A student wanting to pursue his career in engineering can opt for any of the following engineering types:
v Chemical engineering
v Civil engineering
v Mechanical engineering
v Electrical engineering
v Engineering management
v Geotechnical engineering
v Engineering sciences
Out of all these engineering types, the most popular and the broadest engineering discipline is Mechanical Engineering. Students who have opted for the career in mechanical engineering are made to deal with the designing and execution part of all the machinery and mechanical tools present in the industry. Students aiming for career in mechanical engineering, need to have, BE/ B Tech degree in their graduation or post graduation in Mechanical Engineering. The graduation course for mechanical engineering is of four years, and in case of polytechnic diploma courses, the duration is of 2-3 years. Students with physics, chemistry, and maths as their subjects in 12th examinations are eligible for opting graduation courses in mechanical engineering.
For selection in mechanical engineering courses, a student needs to have some minimum percentile, which depends on the admission criterion of the colleges and the institutions. All the colleges providing courses for mechanical engineering conducts entrance examinations. Some of the entrance examinations for engineering courses are:
v All India Engineering Entrance Examination
v IIT Joint Entrance Exam
v All India Common Entrance Test
v Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering
v Delhi Combined Entrance Test
v SRM Engineering Entrance Exam
v Birla Institute of Technology and Science Examination
v National Institute of Technology
v Jawaharlal Nehru University Entrance Examination
v Engineering Common Entrance Test for Diploma Holders
Some of the duties which a mechanical engineering student has to perform, after pursuing his studies are, designing, constructing, developing, maintaining, producing, installing, functioning and mechanism of large steam engines, internal combustion engines, gas turbines, jet engines, tools of different machinery, etc. Mechanical engineers are also said to be the driving force of the mechanical industry, it's because of them only, the development and production of all the IT advancements is possible.
All those students aiming for career in mechanical engineering must check themselves on the following points, before applying for admission in these courses:
v Great designing and drawing skills to draw the structures for machines
v Should be able to conceptualise the plan with his design and analytical skills
v Must possess great mathematical solving ability, with match being the most important tool of engineering
v Should have an inquisitive approach to dig into the depth of matters and solve the problems successfully
v Should have a sense of organising things and must be able to work with all kinds of people in all types of environment. Should be a team worker, creative and must be able to present his innovative ideas to the world.
Students wanting to pursue, teaching career for mechanical engineering mostly opt for higher or post graduation degrees in this field. Or, if the student aims for managerial positions, then an additional degree in the management would help him in grabbing the opportunities for management levels.
About the Author
Gurleen Kaur writes on behalf of Shiksha.com.Shiksha is a portal that connects education seeker with education provider. Shiksha provides information about IT colleges and MBA colleges