Energy Atlas

How The World Is Powered
Technologies

Steam Turbine

Heat Engine

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Housed Rotor Blades

A rotary engine in which high-pressure steam spins bladed wheels, invented in its modern form by Charles Parsons in 1884. Steam turbines drive the generators of nearly every thermal power station, whether the steam is raised by coal, gas, biomass or nuclear fission, which makes the steam turbine the single most widely used electricity-generating machine ever built.

Facts
Technology Type
Heat engine 1
Invented Year
1884 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Developed By

Uses Source

Coal, Energy Sources

Steam turbines also run on steam raised by gas, biomass and nuclear heat; coal was the fuel of their first century.

Every operating nuclear power plant generates through steam turbines.

Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
World Nuclear Association Information Library
World Nuclear AssociationUses Source: Nuclear PowerView the Source
United States Energy Information Administration Official Site
US Energy Information AdministrationAssociated With: Electric Generator, Electricity explained, How electricity is generated
Quote, Associated With: Electric Generator, Electricity explained, How electricity is generated
Most U.S. and world electricity generation is from electric power plants that use a turbine to drive electricity generators.
View the Source
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Grace's Guide LtdDeveloped By: Charles Parsons, Charles Algernon Parsons
Quote, Developed By: Charles Parsons, Charles Algernon Parsons
His steam turbine patent of 1884 was comparable in importance to that of James Watt's in 1769.
View the Source
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Grace's Guide LtdAssociated With: Parsons Invents the Steam Turbine, Charles Algernon Parsons
Quote, Associated With: Parsons Invents the Steam Turbine, Charles Algernon Parsons
His steam turbine patent of 1884 was comparable in importance to that of James Watt's in 1769.
View the Source
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