PHYS 11 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Internal Combustion Engine, Electric Generator, Jet Engine
Document Summary
Gas expands when heated in the hot side. Gas moves from hot side to cold side where it contracts. Maximum efficiency = (useful output) / input. The pushing and expansion pushes the piston and in turn turns the wheel (t hot - t cold )/t hot = 1 - (t cold /t hot ) Ideal engine would be 100%, real ones are 50% Water turns into steam, its molecules move apart and wants to occupy larger volume so that the pressure stays the same as air. The increase in volume powers the steam engine, somehow pushes a piston and moves the wheel. Extracts energy from the flow of a liquid. Turbines are small for a given power output. Used to make steam in power plants that obtain heat by burning oil, coal, natural gas, or from nuclear energy. Turbine turns the expanding stream into rotation that then powers an electric generator (makes electricity from rotation)