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steam engine

Heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid

Instance of: engine class
Subclass of: heat engine

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed by a connecting rod and crank into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is normally applied to reciprocating engines, although some authorities have also referred to the steam turbine and devices such as Hero's aeolipile as "steam engines". The essential feature of steam engines is that they are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle. In general usage, the term "steam engine" can refer to either complete steam plants, such as railway steam locomotives and portable engines, or may refer to the piston or turbine machinery alone, as in the beam engine and stationary steam engine.

Overview

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48 identifiers linking steam engine across the web's reference databases

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Source last edited September 10, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). steam engine (Q12760). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/steam-engine-Q12760