What caused the change?
Labs / History
The Steam Engine
This is the machine that powered the Industrial Revolution. Feed the firebox to build boiler pressure, open the throttle valve to admit steam, and hang a load on the flywheel. The piston's back-and-forth stroke becomes smooth rotation — and the readouts tell you exactly how much horsepower you are making.
Labs / History / The Steam Engine
The Steam Engine
This is the machine that powered the Industrial Revolution. Feed the firebox to build boiler pressure, open the throttle valve to admit steam, and hang a load on the flywheel. The piston's back-and-forth stroke becomes smooth rotation — and the readouts tell you exactly how much horsepower you are making.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
History is about change over time and the choices that shape it. This model helps you compare causes, consequences, and patterns without treating the past as a list of dates.
Explore
Try the model
P 200 kPaF 0.0 kNRPM 0Power 0.0 hp
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Turn the fire to Full but leave the throttle nearly shut. Where does all that pressure go — and why does the safety valve start to puff?
- With a steady fire, slowly open the throttle. Does the flywheel spin faster forever, or does something hold it back?
- Pile on the load. What happens to the RPM, and can more fire win the speed back?
- Switch off the heavy flywheel. Why does the engine suddenly run so jerkily between power strokes?
- Can you find the settings that squeeze out the most horsepower — and is that the same as the highest RPM?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Build an explanation with a cause, a change, and a consequence. Then identify evidence from the model and one limitation of what the model can show.
Check
Before you leave
Who or what was affected?
What can this model not tell us?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.