External combustion engine

Get your science fix here: research, quackery, activism and all the rest
Post Reply
plodder
Stummy Beige
Posts: 2981
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:50 pm

External combustion engine

Post by plodder » Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:17 pm

Not sure if the name is entirely accurate but anyway.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheDreadShip ... 0802194435

User avatar
lpm
Junior Mod
Posts: 5944
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:05 pm

Re: External combustion engine

Post by lpm » Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:35 pm

Oh great, another moron-gif twitter thread. For stupid people who need silly illustrations.
⭐ Awarded gold star 4 November 2021

User avatar
tenchboy
After Pie
Posts: 1891
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:18 pm
Location: Down amongst the potamogeton.

Re: External combustion engine

Post by tenchboy » Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:42 pm

Thanks plodder, enjoyed that. I especially liked the illustration of Alfred Nobel's aluminium yacht. I don't know much about boats but that looked pretty slick to me.
If you want me Steve, just Snapchat me yeah? You know how to Snapchap me doncha Steve? You just...

User avatar
tenchboy
After Pie
Posts: 1891
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:18 pm
Location: Down amongst the potamogeton.

Re: External combustion engine

Post by tenchboy » Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:42 pm

Ah!
If you want me Steve, just Snapchat me yeah? You know how to Snapchap me doncha Steve? You just...

User avatar
Grumble
Light of Blast
Posts: 4746
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:03 pm

Re: External combustion engine

Post by Grumble » Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:33 pm

Seems entirely lifted from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphtha_l ... prov=sfti1

Not that it’s a bad thing to promote interesting stuff everywhere, but it would be nice to throw credit around (unless of course I have the order of events the wrong way around, and maybe the Twitter thread writer also wrote the wiki page)
where once I used to scintillate
now I sin till ten past three

User avatar
nekomatic
Dorkwood
Posts: 1376
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 3:04 pm

Re: External combustion engine

Post by nekomatic » Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:24 pm

Given Wikipedia’s mission is to spread knowledge for free for the greater good of humanity*, it seems a bit churlish to complain of someone taking Wikipedia content** for free and spreading it for the greater good of humanity, but with pictures.

And for anyone who doesn’t like moronic Twitter threads, I can reveal to you this one weird old trick for not having to see them.

* Well I assume it’s something like this
** if they have in fact done so
Move-a… side, and let the mango through… let the mango through

User avatar
Bird on a Fire
Princess POW
Posts: 10137
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:05 pm
Location: Portugal

Re: External combustion engine

Post by Bird on a Fire » Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:04 pm

Yeah, what a bunch of killjoy nyer-nyers upthread.
We have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment.

User avatar
lpm
Junior Mod
Posts: 5944
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:05 pm

Re: External combustion engine

Post by lpm » Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:03 pm

The day we stop fighting back against stupidity is the day the world goes to sh.t.

That day was in early 2004.
⭐ Awarded gold star 4 November 2021

User avatar
Bird on a Fire
Princess POW
Posts: 10137
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:05 pm
Location: Portugal

Re: External combustion engine

Post by Bird on a Fire » Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:17 pm

lpm wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:03 pm
The day we stop fighting back against stupidity is the day the world goes to sh.t.

That day was in early 2004.
TLDR

Can u do a emoji+gif version plz.
We have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment.

User avatar
Boustrophedon
Stummy Beige
Posts: 2860
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 3:58 pm
Location: Lincolnshire Wolds

Re: External combustion engine

Post by Boustrophedon » Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:20 am

The various article seem to skate over the one salient feature that made early steam engines dangerous; the large volume of superheated water present in a fire tube boiler. Later water tube boilers are much less prone to catastrophic explosions as there is less water and hence less stored energy and the inherent strength of small tubes versus a big cylindrical vessel, critical crack length and all that.

Using naphtha in a 'water tube' design is quite logical in an engineering sense so long as you use a high degree of superheat, else the Carnot efficiency is low.

It should be noticed that the CANDU nuclear reactor is a water tube design whereas all the other designs AGR and PWRs are essentially fire tube designs with large pressure vessels.
Hjulet snurrar men hamstern är död.

plodder
Stummy Beige
Posts: 2981
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:50 pm

Re: External combustion engine

Post by plodder » Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:09 pm

Boustrophedon wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:20 am
The various article seem to skate over the one salient feature that made early steam engines dangerous; the large volume of superheated water present in a fire tube boiler. Later water tube boilers are much less prone to catastrophic explosions as there is less water and hence less stored energy and the inherent strength of small tubes versus a big cylindrical vessel, critical crack length and all that.

Using naphtha in a 'water tube' design is quite logical in an engineering sense so long as you use a high degree of superheat, else the Carnot efficiency is low.

It should be noticed that the CANDU nuclear reactor is a water tube design whereas all the other designs AGR and PWRs are essentially fire tube designs with large pressure vessels.
I quite like the idea of a petrol-cooled nuclear reactor.

User avatar
Martin Y
Stummy Beige
Posts: 3080
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:08 pm

Re: External combustion engine

Post by Martin Y » Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:30 pm

plodder wrote:
Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:09 pm
I quite like the idea of a petrol-cooled nuclear reactor.
Slightly less of an instant "Wait, what?" than sodium cooled ones.

User avatar
EACLucifer
Stummy Beige
Posts: 4177
Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:49 am
Location: In Sumerian Haze

Re: External combustion engine

Post by EACLucifer » Sat Jul 02, 2022 10:00 am

These sound dangerous, but they actually worked reasonably well. They were generally quite low pressure, and not the most efficient, but as a way of dodging a regulation that honestly wasn't really very necessary for small water-tube boilers, they were fine.

Post Reply