In the Classroom

edited by
Tested Demonstrations Ed Vitz
Kutztown University
Kutztown, PA 19530

Illustrating Thermodynamic Concepts Using a Hero’s Engine

submitted by: Pedro L. Muiño* and James R. Hodgson
Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; *galicia@ksu.edu

checked by: Sheldon Knoespel

Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1322

In his book The History of the First Locomotives in America

(1), William H. Brown cites French historian Champollion
to attribute to Hero of Alexandria (ca. 130 B.C.E.) the first
account of the use of steam as a source of power. Hero re-
portedly explained that the sounds produced by the statue
of Memnon (XVI century B.C.E.) and a similar statue of
Pharaoh Amenophis II (ca. 1436–1413 B.C.E.) were due to
steam produced at the pedestal of the statues. Hero himself
built some steam-powered toys, but according to Brown, “he
[did] not give the slightest hint that his invention or discov-
ery could be made capable of any useful application, nor did
he imagine that he possessed a knowledge of a power that
was in future ages to produce some important results” (1).
Nevertheless, a glass rotor known as Hero’s engine (see
Figs. 1, 2) can be used to illustrate some concepts of thermo-
dynamics, such as the conversion of heat into mechanical
work, gas expansion, or the interconversion between kinetic Figure 1. Sketch of our design for Hero’s engine, (not to scale).
energy and potential energy (2). Ideas related to engineering The openings at the end of the side arms are ~1 mm. Both side
design, such as the concept of feedback mechanisms, can also arms must be as equal in length and shape as possible. The threads
be illustrated. Some of these concepts are appropriate for an suspend the engine from a horizontal bar. A meter stick can be
attached to the vertical bar that holds the horizontal bar in place,
introductory chemistry course, whereas others are better
or may be placed at a side. A rubber band should be used to
suited for a physical chemistry class. mark the initial height of the engine’s side arms in order to observe
the vertical rise easily.
Experimental Design
Figure 1 shows the design of our Hero’s engine. It is an
adaptation of an engine by R. Barbour (3) that rotates along a Figure 2. Photograph of
horizontal axis (unlike our design, in which the engine rotates Hero’s engine. The initial
along the vertical axis). The engine is made from Pyrex. We vertical position is marked
used 45-mm tubing to blow a 6-cm ball (∼2.5 in.). This ball with a rubber band. This
was then attached to the end of a tube 12 mm in diameter arrangement is particularly
and 10 cm long. The side arms are blown in 6 mm tubing, effective for viewing when
with ends drawn down to ∼1 mm i.d. The arms are attached using a projection system in
approximately 1 cm above the glass ball, but this is not a a large lecture hall setting.
Photo courtesy of Sheldon
critical parameter. The length of the arms is, however, very
Knoespel.
important. It is necessary that both arms be equal in length.
In our apparatus, the length of each arm is 10 cm. Seven
centimeters away from the central tube, we made a 90° bend
(i.e., the short end of the arm is 3 cm in length). The length
of the arms is important to the rotation of the engine because length. This is important for some of the points we want to
it relates to the torque given to the machine. illustrate. If one only wants to show the rotation caused by
The central tube is closed using a cork, which also works the steam engine, a fishing swivel can be used instead of the
as a safety relief valve. This end of the tube must be fire- thread. In this case, however, the length of the arms is crucial.
polished and may be rimmed, as well. A ring is made out of Because of the friction involved in the swivel, a length of at
3-mm solid rod in order to suspend the engine. Its size is least 7 cm (between the central tube and the 90° bend) is
not important, provided there is enough room to introduce needed to provide adequate torque to make the engine rotate
the cork. The engine is then suspended from a horizontal continuously using an alcohol burner. Shorter arm lengths
holder using two strong threads approximately 50 cm in require hotter flames.

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 77 No. 5 May 2000 • Journal of Chemical Education 615

 In the Classroom
Figure 3. If adequate glassblowing facilities are not available, this
alternative design can be used. A 100-mL Erlenmeyer flask is ad-
equate. Two identical tubes with two bends each can be used to
eject the water vapor. Each tube can also be constructed from three
pieces of glass and two pieces of Tygon tubing for the bends. A
collar for the flask should be made of thick wire. The whole assem-
bly is suspended by a loop of string hanging from the collar. The
loop should be long enough to allow for removal of the stopper in
order to refill the engine.
Figure 3 shows an alternative design that requires a
smaller degree of glassblowing work. An Erlenmeyer flask
(∼100 mL) with a two-hole stopper can be used instead
of the engine shown in Figure 1. Two glass tubes 6 mm in
diameter, each with two bends, can be used as the arms. A
thick wire should be wrapped around the neck of the Erlen-
meyer flask, as a collar. A loop of string can then be attached
to this collar to suspend the engine. The length of the loop
is not critical, but one must allow for enough room to remove
the stopper in order to refill the engine. Some glassware
companies (we are aware of Cenco, VWR, and Fisher) sell
versions similar to the one pictured in Figure 3.
• CAUTION: As in any glassblowing project, one must
follow proper safety procedures. Safety glasses should be
used at all times. Fire polishing the ends of the tubes will
avoid cuts, and one should remember to flame anneal or
oven anneal the apparatus to relieve thermal stress.
The Experiment
Approximately 5–10 mL of water should be poured
inside the engine. The open end of the vertical tube must be
tightly closed with a cork. An alcohol burner can be used to
heat the bulb. The tip of the wick should be placed ∼1 cm
below the base of the engine, so that the tip of the flame
reaches the base of the bulb and heating is smooth and homo-
geneous. In approximately one minute, the water will start
to boil. At this point, puffs of vapor will be seen exiting the
arms of the engine. The torque provided by the emission of
water vapor jets pushing in opposite directions will make the
engine spin around the vertical axis. The threads holding the
apparatus will then twist around each other, thereby lifting
the engine. The amount of vertical lift depends on the thick-
ness and length of the threads. We achieve a 2–3-cm lift with
50-cm threads. In principle, one could go further. However,
the lifting of the engine results in the cooling of the water
(which is now away from the flame) so that the potential
616 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 5 May 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
energy stored in the coiling of the threads results in their
unwinding and lowering of the engine. This unwinding will
take place until the water heats up again and starts rotation
in the original direction, as propelled by the water vapor jets.
This oscillation between forward and backward rotations lasts
until all the liquid water is gone. The period of oscillation is
of the order of one minute and does depend on thread length
and flame size.
The lifting of the engine can be accurately recorded
by placing a meter stick behind or to the side of the engine
(at sufficient distance so it does not impede the rotation).
However, it is very easy to observe the lift qualitatively by
comparing the initial separation between the bottom of the
engine and the tip of the wick (∼1 cm) with the separation
when the engine stops rotating, which is typically three or
four times greater.
Direct observation of the events described above is not
very suitable for a large lecture room. In this case, arrange-
ments can be made to project the demonstration in a large
screen using a video camera. If this method is used, one
should place the camera lens at the same vertical height as
the arms of the engine so it is easy to measure the vertical
motion by comparison of the position of the arms with re-
spect to the meter stick.
A Note on Safety
It is important that the ends of the arms are brought
down to approximately 1 mm i.d. A larger diameter will
result in weaker jets streaming out (lower torque) and possi-
bly no noticeable rotation. A smaller diameter, on the other
hand, may result in the build-up of pressure inside the engine.
The cork at the top of the vertical tube should be tight, but
not overly tight, so an excess of pressure can be relieved by
ejection of the cork before the pressure becomes high enough
to explosively shatter the engine.
Discussion
Some phenomena that are of interest in chemical ther-
modynamics can be shown using this demonstration.
Gas Expansion. By observation of the volume of water
vapor produced by the small volume of liquid water, it
can be shown that the molar volume of liquids is truly insig-
nificant when compared to the molar volume of gases. This
is an approximation involved, for instance, in the Clausius–
Clapeyron equation, an equation that relates the enthalpy of
vaporization (or sublimation) to changes in the boiling (or
sublimation) point as a function of pressure changes. It is
important to note that, although the volume of the system
increases, the work produced is not PV work (Conversion of
Heat to Work, below).
Gas Cooling through Expansion. When the water vapor
exits through a narrow opening, it expands against a lower
external pressure. The behavior of the vapor is similar to that
of gases in the Joule–Thompson experiment. The water vapor
cools upon exiting the arm, indicating that water has a posi-
tive Joule–Thompson coefficient (µ JT) at 1 bar and 100 °C.
(A similar procedure is used to liquefy gases like nitrogen).
For reference, in our apparatus, the temperature of the
vapor, measured with a thermocouple (see below) attached
to a digital meter, dropped to about 80 °C 5 mm away from
the nozzle. (See ref 4 for a detailed discussion of the Joule–

Thompson experiment.) The temperature measurement was
performed with a low-mass thermocouple (to ensure that the
temperature drop is not due to heating of a thermometer)
and was accomplished by holding the engine stationary.
• CAUTION: Do not attempt to measure the temperature
of the exiting vapor by holding the thermocouple (or
worse, a thermometer) in the path of a rotating engine,
as this may break the glass and spill scalding water.
Conversion of Heat to Work. Nowadays, the main use
of steam in industry is to generate work, which then can be
converted to other forms of energy, such as electricity. The
conversion of heat into circular motion can be observed here.
By attaching a belt to the engine, the motion can be exported
to one or more other systems. Additionally, a shaft can be
used to convert circular motion into linear motion. As men-
tioned above, the work is not produced through PV work.
Rather, its source is the pressure differential between the
inside and the outside of the engine, which is caused by
heating the liquid water. This pressure differential produces
a transport of mass from the inside to the outside of the engine.
The total momentum of the system must be conserved so
that the rush of steam out of the engine results in a force on
each nozzle in a direction opposite to the respective vapor
jet. The two opposite forces acting off center result in the
circular motion of the engine.
Feedback Mechanisms. The students with an interest in
engineering can appreciate the feedback built into this Hero’s
engine. The faster the water is heated, the faster the vapor is
released. One can accelerate the heating, for instance, using
bigger or hotter flames. However, this results in a faster rate
of rotation, so that the coiling of the thread takes place faster,
effectively removing the engine from the flame and allowing
it to cool down. Once the water is sufficiently cooled, the
threads uncoil, bringing the engine back into contact with
the flame. The amount of contact is now controlled by the
temperature of the water. If it gets too hot too soon, the
thread stops uncoiling and coils back to remove the engine
from the flame.
Interconversion between Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy.
The kinetic energy of rotation can be stored in the coiling
of the thread (and in the raising of the engine) as potential
energy. Once the water cools down, owing to the engine’s
being away from the flame, the system releases the potential
energy into rotation in the opposite direction; that is, the
potential energy is converted into kinetic energy.
Conversion of Heat Energy to Kinetic Energy. This Hero’s
engine, as designed, is very inefficient in converting thermal
energy into mechanical work. The following data illustrate
the conversion of heat (used to boil water) to kinetic energy
of rotation. In a carefully controlled experiment, we filled
the engine to approximately half the volume of the bulb with
water. This allowed us to approximate that the moment of
inertia of the engine is that of a hemisphere, (with m = 0.087
kg and radius r = 0.03 m); that is, I = 0.4 mr2. We ran the
experiment for 45 s (from beginning to end of spinning). In
this time, the engine completed 155 revolutions and was lifted
0.035 m. The water loss to vaporization was 0.0014 kg.
The energy required to convert 0.0014 kg of water at
100 °C into vapor is
q = 0.0014 kg(1 mol/0.018 kg)(40656 J/mol) = 3160 J
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 77 No. 5 May 2000 • Journal of Chemical Education
In the Classroom
The kinetic energy of rotation (per revolution) can be esti-
mated using T = 1⁄ 2 Iω2, where I is obtained as an approxi-
mation (see above), and ω is the angular velocity.
T (per revolution) ≈
1
⁄2 × 0.4 × 0.087 kg × (0.03 m)2 ×
(2π × 155 radians/45 s)2 = 0.008 J
W ≈ 0.008 J × 155 revolutions = 1.2 J
Only ∼0.04% of the energy used as heat is converted into
work (under these conditions).1
For comparison, the PV work produced by the change
in volume of 0.0014 kg of liquid water into vapor is (ap-
proximately)
WPV = P∆V ≈
1 atm × 0.0014 kg × (1 mol/0.018 kg) × 22.4 L ×
(373 K/273 K) × (8.31 J/0.082 atm L) = 240 J
This means that, at this temperature, about 7.5% of the
heat is converted into PV work. Actual power plants operate at
temperatures above 800 K, where the heat engine has an upper
theoretical limit for heat-to-work conversion of 60% (5).
Some of the kinetic energy is converted into gravitational
potential energy, but most of it is accumulated as torsional
energy in the thread:
Vgrav = mg∆h = 0.087 kg × 9.8 m s᎑2 × 0.035 m = 0.03 J
That is, only ∼2.5% of the energy is stored as gravitational
potential energy; the rest is stored in the coiling of the thread.
Acknowledgments
We thank Donald W. Setser for his interesting insight,
discussions, and comments regarding this demonstration.
Note
1. A better value for the mechanical work can be obtained by
using a better approximation for the moment of inertia, which can
be separated into two components: the moment of inertia of the
engine, Ieng, and the moment of inertia of the water, Iwat. Iwat can
be calculated as in the text, by using the expression for the mo-
ment of inertia of a hemisphere (Iwat = 0.4mwatr 2, where mwat = 0.031
kg for our experiment). Ieng can be approximated by using the ex-
pression for the moment of inertia of a thin shell (most of the mass
of the engine is in the bulb); thus, Ieng = 2⁄3meng r 2, where meng =
0.056 kg. This results in I = 4.5 × 10᎑5 kg m2, ∼ 40% larger than the
I = 3.1 × 10᎑5 kg m2 value obtained with the simpler approximation
used in the text. The value of the work should also be adjusted
accordingly, from 1.2 J to 1.7 J.
Literature Cited
1. Brown, W. H. The History of the First Locomotives in America;
Appleton: New York, 1871; Chapter 3. This book can be con-
sulted over the Internet. The chapter in question is at http://www.
history.rochester.edu/steam/brown/chpt3.html (accessed Mar 2000).
2. Dunbar, R. E. J. Chem. Educ. 1957, 34, A525.
3. Barbour, R. Glassblowing for Laboratory Technicians, 2nd ed.;
Pergamon: Elmsford, NY, 1978; pp 143–144.
4. Levine, I. R. Physical Chemistry, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New
York, 1995; pp 53–54.
5. Levine, I. R. Physical Chemistry, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New
York, 1995; p 79.
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