1518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica sclatinows dynamite tbl of conten gelatinous dynamite actos chemical explosive LEARN ABOUT THIS TOPIC in these articles: invention by Nobel i In red Nobel ‘more powerful form of dynamite, blasting gelatin, which he patented the following year. Again by chanee, he had discovered that mixing a solution of nitroglycerin with a fufly substance known as nitrocellulose result power than ordinary. a tough, plastic material that has a high water resistance and greater blasting, In explosive: Dynamite contribution was his invention of gelatinous dynamites in 1875. There is a legend that he hurt a finger and used collodion, a solution of relatively low nitrogen content nitrocellulose in a mixture of ether and alcohol, to cover the wound. Later, unable to sleep because of the pain, Nobel went. types of dynamite In dynamite Nobel also invented gelatinous dynamite, a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, Ammonium, nitrate was later substituted for part ofthe nitroglycerin to give a safer and less expensive explosive called extra dynamite. See also explosive. Science & Tech nitroglycerin chemical eompound = Table of Contents Category: Science & Tech Related Topics: cardiovascular drug + cose + dynamite «extra cynaile «gelatinous dynamite hitpshwwucbrtannica.convtechnologygelatinous-dynamite 1128.1518123, 19:16 GGelatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica See all relted content= Visit an explosives factory and learn about nitraglycerinsss sl vids orth ate nitroglycerin, also called glyceryl trinitrate, a powerful explosive and an important ingredient of most forms of dynamite. It is also used with nitrocellulose in some propellants, especially for rockets and missiles, and medically itis employed as a ‘vasodilator in the easing of eardiae pain, Pure nitroglycerin is a colourless, oily, somewhat toxic liquid having a sweet, burning taste. It was first prepared in 1846 by the Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero by adding glycerol to a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids. The hazards involved in preparing large quantities of nitroglycerin have been greatly reduced by widespread adoption of continuous nitration, Nitroglycerin, with the molecular formula C;H,(ONO,) processes. hhas a high nitrogen content (18.5 percent) and contains sufficient ‘oxygen atoms to oxidize the carbon and hydrogen atoms while nitrogen is being liberated, so that itis one of the most powerful explosives known. Detonation of nitroglycerin generates gases that would occupy more than 1,200 times the original volume at ordinary room temperature and pressure; moreover, the heat liberated raises the temperature to about 5,000 °C (9,000 °F) ‘The overall effect is the instantaneous development of a pressure of 20,000 atmospheres; the resulting detonation wave moves at approximately 7,700 metres per second (more than 17,000 miles per hour). Nitroglycerin is extremely sensitive to shock and to rapid heating; it begins to decompose at 50-60 °C (122-140 °F) and explodes at 218 °C (424 °F). ‘The safe use of nitroglycerin as a blasting explosive became possible after the Swedish chemist Alfred B. Nobel developed dynamite in the 1860s by combining liquid nitroglycerin with an inert porous material such as chareoal or diatomaceous earth, ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 2251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica Nitroglycerin plasticizes eollodion (a form of nitrocellulose) to form blasting gelatin, a very powerful explosive. Nobel's discovery of this action led to the development of ballistite, the first double-base propellant and a precursor of cordite, A serious problem in the use of nitroglycerin results from its high freezing point (13 °C [55 °F). This disadvantage is overcome by using mixtures of nitroglycerin with other polynitrates; for example, a mixture of nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate freezes at ~29 °C (-20 °F). of Eneyclopael Britannica History & Society Alfred Nobel Swedish inventor duos! Fodoneda Table of Contents See all media catagory: History & Society hitps hwucbrtannica.convtechnologygelatinous-dynamite 3251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica Bern: October 21, 1883» Stcknaln « Smeden Died: December 10, 1895 (aged 6)» San Rama» Laly Invention blsting cap» dynamite + gelatinous dynamite se Top Questions When was Alfred Nobel born? . What is Alfa Nebel famous for? ¥ How was Alted Nobel educated? ¥ How di Aled Nobel aie? ¥ ow di Aled Nobel found the Nobel Paes? . Alfred Nobel, in full Alfred Bernhard Nobel, (born October 21, 1833, Stockholm, Sweden—died December 10, 1896, San Remo, Italy), Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist who invented dynamite and other more powerful explosives and who also founded the Nobel Allred Nobel was the fourth son of Immanuel and Caroline Nobel. Immanuel was an inventor and engineer who had married Caroline Andrietta Ahlsell in 1827. The couple had eight children, of whom only Alfred and three brothers reached adulthood, Alfred was prone to illness as a child, but he enjoyed a close relationship with his mother and displayed a lively intellectual curiosity from an early age. TTe was interested in explosives, and he learned the fundamentals of engineering from his father, Immanuel, meanwhile, had failed at various business ventures until moving in 1837 to St, Petersburg in Russia, where he prospered as a manufacturer of explosive mines and machine tools. The Nobel family left Stockholm in 1842 to join the father in St. Petersburg, Alired’s newly prosperous parents were now able to send him to private tutors, and he praved to be an eager pupil. He was a competent chemist by age 16 and was fluent in English, French, German, and Russian as well as Swedish, 9} r BEA 2:0 of Scionce Alfred Nobel left Russia in 1850 to spend a year in Paris studying chemistry and then spent time in the United States working under the direction of John Eriesson, the builder of the ironclad warship Monitor. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, in 1852, Nobel worked in his father's factory, which made military equipment during the Crimean War. After the war ended in 1856, the company had difficulty switching to the peacetime production of steamboat machinery, and it went bankrupt in 1859. Alfred and his parents returned to Sweden, white his brothers Robert and Ludvig stayed behind in Russia to salvage what was Jet of the family business. Alfred soon began experimenting with explosives in a small laboratory on his father's estate. At the time, the only dependable explosive for use in mines was black powder, a form of gunpowtler, A re ‘compound, ntroslicerin, was a much more powerful explosive, but it was so unstable that it could not be handled with any degree of safety. Nevertheless, Nobel in 1862 built a small factory to manufacture nitroglycerin, and a the same time he undertook research inthe hope of finding a safe way to control the explosive's detonation. In 186; he invented a practical detonator consisting ofa wooden plug inserted into a larger charge of nitroglycerin held in a metal container; the explosion of the plug's small charge of black powder serves to detonate the much more powerful charge of liquid nitroglycerin, This detonator marked the beginning of Nobels reputation as an inventor as well asthe fortune he was to acquire asa maker of explosives. In 1865 Nobel invented an improved detonator called a blasting cap; it consisted of a small metal cap containing a tly discovered liquid ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 4281518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica charge of mercury fulminate that can be exploded by either shock or moderate heat. The invention of the blasting cap inaugurated the modern use of high explosives. itroglycerin itself, however, remained difficult to transport and extremely dangerous to handle. So dangerous, in fact, that Nobels nitroglycerin factory blew up in 1864, killing his younger brother Emil and several other people. Undaunted by this tragic accident, Nobel built several factories to manufacture nitroglycerin for use in concert with his blasting caps. These factories were as safe asthe knowledge ofthe time allowed, but accidental explosions still oceasionally occurred. Nobel's second important invention was that of dynamite in 1867. By chance, he discovered that nitroglycerin was absorbed to dryness by ‘eselguhr, a porous siliceous earth, and the resulting mixture was much safer to use and easier to handle than nitroglycerin, alone, Nobel named the new product dynamite (from Greek dynamis, ‘power”) and was granted patents for it in Great Britain (1867) and the United States (1868). Dynamite established Nobel's fame worldwide and was soon put to use in blasting tunnels, cutting canals, and building railways and roads. In the 1870s and '80s Nobel built a network of factories throughout Europe to manufacture dynamite, and he formed a web of corporations to produce and market his explosives. He also continued to experiment in search of better ones, and in 1875 he invented a more powerful form of dynamite, blasting gelatin, which he patented the following year. Again by chance, he had discovered that mixing a solution of nitroglycerin with a fluffy substance known as nitrocellulose results in a tough, plastic ‘material that has a high water resistance and greater blasting power than ordinary dynamites. In 1887 Nobel introduced ballstite, one of the first nitroglycerin smokeless powders and a precursor of cordite. Although Nobel held the patents to dynamite and his other explosives, he was in constant conflict with competitors who stole his processes, a fact that forced him into protracted patent litigation on several occasions. Nobel's brothers Ludvig and Robert, in the meantime, had developed newly discovered oilfields near Baku (now in Azerbaijan) along the Caspian Sea and had themselves become immensely wealthy. Alfred's worldwide interests in explosives, along with his own holdings in his brothers’ companies in Russia, brought him a large fortune. In 1893 he became interested in Sweden’s arms industry, and the following year he bought an ironworks at Bofors, near Varmland, that became the nucleus of the well- known Bofors arms factory. Besides explosives, Nobel made many other inventions, such as artificial silk and leather, and altogether he registered more than 350 patents in various countries. Nobel’s complex personality puzzled his contemporaries. Although his business interests required him to travel almost constantly, he remained a lonely recluse who was prone to fits of depression, He led a retired and simple life and was a man of habits, yet he could be a courteous dinner host, a good listener, and a man of incisive wit. He never married, and apparently preferred the joys of inventing to those of romantic attachment. He had an abiding interest in literature and wrote plays, novels, and poems, almost all of which remained unpublished. He had amazing energy and found it difficult to relax after, intense bouts of work. Among his contemporaries, he had the reputation ofa liberal or even a socialist, but he actually distrusted democracy, opposed suffrage for women, and maintained an attitude of benign paternalism toward his many employees. Though Nobel was essentially a pacifist and hoped that the destructive powers of his inventions would help bring an nd to war, his view of mankind and nations was pessimistic. ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 5251518123, 19:16 page one of Alfred Bernhard Nobel's will npe:iiwww-brtannica,comvechnologylgeatinous-dynamite Golatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica 6251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica By 1895 Nobel had developed angina pectoris, and he died of a cerebral hemorthage at his villa in San Remo, Ltaly, in 1896. At his death his worldwide business empire consisted of more than 90 factories manufacturing explosives and ammunition. The opening of his will, which he had drawn up in Paris on November 27, 1895, and had deposited in a bank in Stockholm, contained a great surprise for his family, friends, and the general public. He had always been generous in humanitarian and scientific philanthropies, and he left the bulk of his fortune in trust to establish what came to be the most highly regarded of international awards, the Nobel Prizes, Learn how the invention of dynamite led, in part, to the global recognition of Martin Luther King,Jr, as a civil rights leader See lies for this article We can only speculate about the reasons for Nobel's establishment of the prizes that bear his name. He was reticent about himself, and he confided in no one about his decision in the months preceding his death. The most plausible assumption is that bizarre incident in 1888 may have triggered the train of reflection that culminated in his bequest for the Nobel Prizes. That Science & Tech dynamite explosive ers ates Te Sion tooo iss ‘Table of Contents ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 1251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica namie manufacturing Category: Science & Tech Related Topic: dynamite, blasting explosive, in 1867 by the Swedish physicist Dynamite is based on but ismuch safer to handle than nitroglycerin alone. By mixing the nitroglycerin with - a porous siliceous earth, in proportions that left an essentially dry and granular material, Nobel produced a solid that was resistant to shock but readily detonable by heat or percussion, Later, wood pulp was substituted as the absorbent, and. was added as an oxidizing agent to inerease the strength of the explosive, Nobel also invented , A mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin. was later substituted for part of the nitroglycerin to give a safer and less expensive explosive called extra dynamite, See also Science & Tech nitrocellulose chemical compound hitps hwwucbrtannica.convtechnologylgelatinous-dynamite 8251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica Catagory: Science &Tech Related Topics: crite + . nitrocellulose, also called cellulose nitrate, a mixture of nitric esters of , and a highly flammable thatis the main ingredient of modern and is also employed in certain and paints. In the late 19th and early 20th. centuries it was the basis of the earliest man-made fibres and materials, Composition, properties, and manufacture of nitrocellulose hitps hwwucbrtannica.convtechnologylgelatinous-dynamite 925191928, 1916 Gelatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Brannica Cellos ) that adhere to cotton seeds It consists of repeating glucose units that have the chemical formula CgH0,(OH), and the following molecular structure: s (linte is a naturally occurring polymer obtained from wood pulp or the short fib ay ae &e ‘major industrial polymers: Cellulose nitrate In unaltered cellulose the X in the molecular formula represents hydrogen (H), indicating a presence on the cellulose molecule of three hydroxyl (OH) groups. The OH groups form strong hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules, withthe result that cellulose cannot be softened by heat or dissolved by solvents without causing chemical decomposition. However, upon treatment with nitric acid in the presence ofa sulfuric acd catalyst and water, OH groups are replaced by nitro (NO,) groups. In theory, all three OFT groups can be replaced, resulting in cellulose trinitrate, which contains more than 14 percent nitrogen. Ta practice, however, most nitrocellulose compounds are dinitrates, averaging 1.8 to 2.8 nitro groups per molecule and containing from 10.5 to 19.5 percent nitrogen. The degree of nitration determines the solubility and flammability ofthe final product. Highly nitrated cellulose—i.e,, nitrocellulose containing more than approximately 12.5 percent nitrogen—will dry to a fluffy “white substance known variously as pyrocellulose and guncotton. Guneotton is unstable to heat, and even carefully prepared samples will ignite on a brief heating to temperatures in excess of 150 °C (300 °F). Guncotton is employed in gunpowders, solid rocket propellants, and explosives. Moderately nitrated cellulose (containing approximately 10.5 to 12.5 percent nitrogen) is also flammable, though less violent so than guncotton, and is soluble in alcohols and ethers. Nitrocellulose of this type, once referred to by various names such as pyrosvln, xyloidin, and collodion cotton, is employed as a film-forming agent in solvent- based paints, protective coatings, and fingernail polishes. In the commercial manufacture of nitrocellulose, wood pulp is the primary source of cellulose. Cellulose sheet and nitrating acids are fed into a reacting vessel, where nitration proceeds until the acids have been centrifuged from the nitrated product. Remaining acid is removed by washing the nitrocellulose slurry in water and boiling it in a caustic solution. The product is often tweated with various stabilizers to reduce degradation under exposure to light and heat. In order to reduce the likelihood of combustion, nitrocellulose is usually stored and transported in water or aleohol. Chronology of development and use In 1833 Henry Braconnot, director of the Botanic Garden in Naney, France, treated potato starch, sawdust, and cotton with nitrie acid, Braconnot found that this material, which he called “xyloidine,” was soluble in wood vinegar, and he attempted to make coatings, films, and shaped articles of it, In 1838 another French chemist, ThGophile-Jules Pelouze, discovered that paper or eardboard could be made violently flammable by dipping it in concentrated nitrie acid; Pelouze named his new material “pyroxyline.” Christian Friedrich Schiinbein, a Swiss chemist, was able to increase the degree of nitration, and therefore the flammability of the product, by dipping cotton in a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids. In 1846 he announced the discovery of this revolutionary explosive substance, which became known as guncotton, and acquired patents in Britain and the United Schiinbein also described the dissolution of moderately nitrated cellulose in ether and ethyl alcohol to produce a syrupy fluid that dried to a transparent film; mixtures of this composition eventually found use as collodion, employed through the 19th century as a photographie carrier and antiseptic wound sealant. Guncotton did not come into use as an ingredient of gunpowder until the 1860s. The early history of its use was punetuated by many disastrous explosions, caused partly by the failure to appreciate that nitrocellulose is an unstable material and is subject to catalytic decomposition caused by its own decomposition produets. In 1868 English chemist Sir Frederick Augustus Abel showed that the methods then prevalent for washing nitrocellulose after nitration were inadequate and that the residual acid ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 10251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica ‘was causing instability. In the 1880s French engineer Paul Vieille added special stabilizers to nitrocellulose to neutralize the catalytically active decomposition produets; the first stable and reliable propellant, smokeless powder, resulted from his work and became the main form of gunpowder. Nitrated cellulose retains its threadlike shape even in solution, and, in the 19th century, methods were devise to spin nitrocellulose into fibres and then convert them back into cellulose. These efforts culminated in 1891 with the introduction of “Chardonnet silk,” the first commercially produced artifical bre and a type of rayon, by the French chemist Hilaire Rerninaud, scomte de Chardannet, In 1869 American inventor John W. Hyatt mixed solid pyroxylin and camphor to produce the first commercially successful plastic, known as celluloid, which he patented the next year. After World War | nitrocellulose was ‘employed in paints for the booming auto industry. Although nitrocellulose coatings are no longer employed on a massive seale, owing to restrietions on the use of produets that contain volatile organie compounds, nitrocellulose continues to be used as a film-forming polymer in certain specialty coatings. ‘istic was most recently revised and updated by Any Tikkanen Seence Tech energy conversion technology Writenby Sexihis, ee 8 Wood, fadants [Seat Faccte Th Etre Eagetpasa tara = Table of Contents ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 1251518123, 19:16 GGelatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Brkannica compressor blades stator blades turbine blades clopaedia Britannica, Inc, tile See all media Category: Science & Tech Key People: ELhu Thomson + Wiliam George Amsiang, Savon Amstuong + Christopher Hinton, Savon Histon + Gskar von Mle «John EW. Keely Related Topics: nuclear reactor + urhine + slecrc motor + batten + fusion cector See al related content ~ Recent News hg. 14,2603, 9:3 PM ET AP) Envionmentalsts sue Puerto Rican government over location of renewable energy projets ‘hug, 8,2025, 138 AMET (AP) [New Zealand i partnering with BlackRock in aim to reach 100% renewable electricity energy conversion, the transformation of energy from forms provided by nature to forms that can be used by humans. Over the centuries a wide array of devices and systems has been developed for this purpose. Some of these energy converters, are quite simple. The early windmills, for example, transformed the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy for pumping ‘water and grinding grain. Other energy-conversion systems are decidedly more complex, particularly those that take raw energy npe:iiwww-brtannica,comvechnologylgeatinous-dynamite 12251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica from fossil fuels and nuclear fuels to generate electrical power. Systems of this kind require multiple steps or processes in which energy undergoes a whole series of transformations through various intermediate forms. Many of the energy converters widely used today involve the transformation of thermal energy into electrical energy. The efficiency of such systems is, however, subject to fundamental limitations, as dietated by the laws of thermodynamics and other scientific principles. In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to certain direct energy-conversion devices, notably solar cells and fuel cells that bypass the intermediate step of conversion to heat energy in electrical power generation. This article traces the development of energy-conversion technology, highlighting not only conventional systems but also alternative and experimental converters with considerable potential. It delineates their distinetive features, basic principles of operation, major types, and key applications. For a discussion of the laws of thermodynamics and their impact on system design, and performance, see thermodynamics, ee Energy & Fossil Fuels General considerations Energy is usually and most simply defined as the equivalent of or capacity for doing work. The word itself is derived from the Greek energeia: en, “in”; ergon, “work.” Energy can either be associated with a material body, as in a coiled spring or a moving object, or it can be independent of matter, as light and other electromagnetic radiation traversing a vacuum. The energy in a system may be only partly available for use, The dimensions of energy are those of work, whieh, in classical mechanics, is defined formally as the product of mass (m) and the square of the ratio of length (0) to time (1: ml2/t2, This means that the seater the mass or the distance through which itis moved or the less the ime taken to move the mass, the greater will be the work done, or the greater th snergy expended. Development of the concept of energy ‘The term energy was not applied as a measure of the ability to do work until rather late in the development of the science of ‘mechanics, Indeed, the development of classical mechanics may be carried out without recourse to the concept of energy. The idea of energy, however, goes back at least to Galileo in the 17th century, He recognized that, when a weight is lifted with a pulley system, the force applied multiplied by the distance through which that foree must be applied (a product ealled, by definition, the work) remains constant even though either factor may vary. The concept of vis viva, or living foree, a quantity directly proportional to the product of the mass and the square of the velocity, was introduced in the 17th century. In the 19th century the term energy was applied to the concept of the vis viva. Isaac Newton's first law of motion recognizes force as being associated with the acceleration of a mass. It is almost inevitable that the integrated effect of the force acting on the mass would then be of interest. Of course, there are two kinds of integral of the effect of the force acting on the mass that can be defined. One is the integral of the force acting along the line of action of the force, or the spatial integral of the force; the other is the integral ofthe foree over the time of its aetion on the mass, or the temporal integeal. Evaluation of the spatial integral leads to a quantity that is now taken to represent the change in kinetic energy of the mass resulting from the action of the force and is just one-half the vis viva. On the other hand, the temporal integration leads to the evaluation of the change in momentum of the mass resulting from the action of the free. For some time there was debate as to which integration led to the proper measure of force, the German philosopher-scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz arguing for the spatial integral as the only true measure, while earlier the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes had defended the temporal integral. Eventually, in the 18th century, the physicist Jean d’Alembert of France showed the legitimacy of both approaches to measuring the effect of a force acting on a mass and that the controversy was one of nomenclature only ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 199251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica To recapitulate force is associated with the acceleration of a mass; kinetic energy, or energy resulting from motion, is the result of the spatial integration ofa force acting on a mass; momentum is the result of the temporal integration of the force acting on a ‘mass; and energy is @ measure of the capacity to do work. It might be added that power is defined as the time rate at which energy is transferred (to a mass as a force acts on it, or through transmission lines from the electrical generator to the consumer). ‘Conservation of energy (see below) was independently recognized by many scientists in the frst haf ofthe sth century. The sonservation of energy as kinetic, potentiel, and elastic enengy ina closed system under the assumption of no ftiction has proved to bea valid and useful tao. Further, upon closer inspection, the friction, which serves as the limitation on classical rmechanies, is found to express itself in the generation of heat, whether at the contact surfaces ofa block sliding on a plane or in the bulk of a fluid in which a paddle is turning or any ofthe other expressions of “friction.” Heat was identified asa form of energy by Hermann von Helmholtz of Germany and James Prescott Joule of England during the 1840s. Joule also proved experimentally the relationship between mechanical and heat energy at ths time. As more detailed descriptions of the various processes in nature became necessary, the approach was to seck rational theories or models fr the processes that allow a quantitative measure of the energy change in the process and then to include it and its attendant energy balance within the system of interest, subject to the overall need for the conservation of energy. This approach has worked for the chemical energy in the molecules of fuel and oxidizer liberated by their burning in an engine to produce heat energy that subsequently is ‘converted to mechanical energy to run a machine; it has also worked for the conversion of nuclear mass into energy in the auiclear fusion and nuclear fission processes. Energy conservation and transformation The concept of energy conservation that the total energy does not change in all the many changes that occur in nature. The conservation of energy is not a description of any process going on in nature, but rather itis a statement that the quantity called energy remains constant regardless of when itis evaluated or what processes—possibly including transformations of energy from one form into another—go on between. successive evaluations A fundamental law that has been observed to hold forall natural phenomena requires the conservation of energy—i. The law of conservation of energy: is applied not only to nature as a whole but to closed or isolated systems within nature as, ‘well. Thus, ifthe boundaries of a system can be defined in such a way that no energy is either added to or removed from the system, then energy must be conserved within that system regardless of the details of the processes going on inside the system boundaries. A corollary of this closed-system statement is that whenever the energy of a system as determined in two successive evaluations is not the same, the difference is a measure of the quantity of energy that has been either added to or removed from the system in the time interval elapsing between the two evaluations, Energy can exist in many forms within a system and may be converted from one form to another within the constraint of the conservation Jaw, These different forms inelude gravitational, kineti, thermal, elasti, electrical, chemical, radiant, nuclear, and ‘mass energy. Ttis the universal applicability of the concept of energy, as well as the completeness of the law of its conservation within different forms, that makes it so attractive and useful Transformation of energy ‘An ideal system Asimple example of a system in which energy is being converted from one form to another is provided in the tossing of a ball ‘with mass m into the air, When the ball is thrown vertically from the ground, its speed and thus its kinetic energy decreases steadily until it comes to rest momentarily at its highest point. It then reverses itself, and its speed and kinetic energy increase steadily as it returns to the ground, The kinetic energy Eyof the ball atthe instant it left the ground (point 1) was half the ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 14125191928, 1916 Golanous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica product of the mass and the square ofthe velocity, oF 1/2mv,2, and decreased steadily to zero atthe highest point (point 2). As the ball rose inthe air, it gained gravitational potential eneray By. Potential in this sense does not mean that the energy is not real but rather that it is stored in some latent form and can be drawn upon to do work. Gravitational potential energy is energy that is stored in a body by virtue of its position in the gravitational field. Gravitational potential energy of a mass m is observed to be given by the product of the mass, the height h attained relative to some reference height, and the acceleration g of a body resulting from the Earth's gravity pulling on it, or mgh. At the instant the ball left the ground at height h, its potential energy Eq is mgh, Atits highest point, its potential energy Epa is mgh,. Applying the law of conservation of eneray and assuming no {riction in the air, these add up to form the following equations: Fy tBy = 2m + ah, = Om In this idealized example the kinetic energy ofthe ball at ground level is converted into work in raising the ball to hy where its gravitational potential energy has been increased by mg (hg ~h,)- As the bal falls back to the ground level h, this gravitational potential energy is converted back into kinetic energy and its total energy ath, again is s/amw,? + mgh,. In this chain of events the kinetic energy of the ball is unchanged at h,; thus the work done on the ball by the force of gravity acting on it in this cycle of events is zero. This system is said to be a conservative one. Varying degrees of conversion in real systems Although the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains unchanged, there may be a great difference in the quality of different forms of energy’. Many forms of energy, in theory, can be transformed completely ito work or into other forms of energy. This is true for mechanical energy’ and electrical energy. The random motions of constituent parts of a material associated with thermal energy, however, represent energy that is not available completely for conversion into directed energy. ‘The French engineer Sadi Carnot described (in 1824) a theoretical power cycle of maximum efficiency for converting thermal into mechanical energy. He demonstrated that this efficiency is determined by the magnitude of the temperatures at which heat energy is added and waste heat is given off during the cycle. A practical engine operating on the Carnot eyele has never been devised, but the Carnot eyele determines the maximum efficiency of thermal energy conversion into any form of directed energy. The Carnot criterion renders 100 percent efficieney impossible for all heat engines. In effect, it constitutes the basis for \what is now the second law of thermodynamics. Ratert Seale Charles, Ruse The Eltrs of Encycopacdla Britannica History of energy-conversion technology Early attempts to harness natural forms of energy Early humans first made controlled use of an external, nonanimal energy: source when they discovered how to use fire. Burning, dried plant matter (primarily wood) and animal waste, they employed the energy from this biomass for heating and cooking, ‘The generation of mechanical energy to supplant human or animal power came very much later—only about 2,000 years ago— with the development of simple devices to harness the energy of flowing water and of wind. Waterwheels hitpsiwwucbrtannica.comvtechnologygelatinous-dynamite 181251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica Study how a series of gears in a waterwheel translates a stream's energy to a millstonesoe slvsen for his arele The earliest machines were waterwheels, first used for grinding grain. They were subsequently adopted to drive sawmills and pumps, to provide the bellows action for furnaces and forges, to drive tilt hammers or trip-hammers for forging iron, and to provide direct mechanical power for textile mills. Until the development of steam power during the Industria] Revolution at the end of the 18th century, waterwheels were the primary means of mechanical power production, rivaled only occasionally by ‘windmills. Thus, many industrial towns, especially in early America, sprang up at locations where water flow could be assured all year ‘The oldest reference to a water mill dates to about 85 BCr, appearing in a poem by an early Greek writer celebrating the liberation from {oil of the young women who operated the guetns (primitive hand mills) for grinding corn. According to the Greek geographer Strabo, King Mithradates VI of Pontus in Asia used a hydraulic machine, presumably a water mill, by about 65 Bc Early vertical-shaft water mills drove querns where the wheel, containing radial vanes or paddles and rotating in a horizontal plane, could be lowered into the stream. The vertical shaft was connected through a hole in the stationary grindstone to the upper, or rotating, stone. The device spread rapidly from Greece to other parts of the world, because it was easy to build and maintain and could operate in any fast-flowing stream. It was known in China by the ist century CE, was used throughout Europe by the end of the grd century, and had reached Japan by the year 610. Users learned early that performance could be improved with a millrace and a chute that would direct the water to one side of the wheel. re baad Energy & Fossil Fuels A horizontal-shaft water mill was first described by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius about 27 BCE. It consisted of an sundershot waterseheel in which water enters below the centre of the wheel and is guided by a millrace and chute. The waterwheel! was coupled with a right-angle gear drive to a vertieal-shaft grinding wheel. This type of mill became popular throughout the Roman Empire, notably in Gaul, after the advent of Christianity led to the freeing of slaves and the resultant need for an alternative souree of power. Early large waterwheels, which measured about 1.8 metres (6 feet) in diamet estimated to have produced about three horsepower, the largest amount of power produced by any machine of the time. The Roman mills were adopted throughout much of medieval Europe, and waterwheels of increasing size, made almost entirely of wood, were built until the 18th century. hitps hwwucbrtannica.convtechnologylgelatinous-dynamite 161251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica In addition to flowing stream water, ocean tides were used to drive waterwheels, ‘Tidal water was allowed to flow into large millponds, controlled initially through lock-type gates and later through flap valves. Onee the tide ebbed,, water was let out through sluice gates and directed onto the wheel, Sometimes the tidal flow was assisted by building a dam across the estuary of, ‘a small river. Although limited in operation to ebbing tide conditions, tidal mills were widely used by the 12th century. The earliest recorded reference to tidal mills is found in the Domesday Book (1086), which also records more than 5,000 water mills in England south of the Severn and Trent rivers. (Tidal mills also were built along the Atlantic coast in Europe and seaboard of the United States and in Guyana, where they powered sugarcane-erushing mills.) centuries later on the eastern ‘The frst analysis ofthe performance of waterwheels was published in 1759 by Jahn Smeaton, an English engineer. Smeaton built atest apparatus with a small wheel (its diameter was only 0.61 metre) to measure the effects of water velocity, 2s well as eney (work produced divided by potential energy in the water) he could obtain was 22 pereent for an undershot wheel and 63 pereent for an overshot wheel (Le,, one in which water enters the ‘Wheel above its centre). In 1776 Smeaton became the first to use a castiron wheel, and two years later he introduced cast-iron searing, thereby bringing to an end the all-wood construction that had prevailed since Roman times. Based on his model tests, Smeaton built an undershot wheel forthe London Bridge waterworks that measured 4.6 metres wide and that had a diameter of 9.75 metres. The results of Smeaton's experimental work came to be widely used throughout Europe for designing new wheels. head and wheel speed, He found that the maximum eff ‘00s a reaction waterwheel for generating small amounts of power became popular in the rural areas of England. In this type of device, commonly known as a Barker's mill, water flowed into a rotating vertical tube before being discharged through nozzles at the end of two horizontal arms, These directed the water out tangentially, much in the way that a ‘modern rotary lawn sprinkler does. A rope or belt wound around the vertical tube provided the power takeoff. Early in the 19th century Jean-Vietor Poneclet, a French mathematician and engineer, designed curved paddles for undershot ‘wheels to allow the water to enter smoothly. His design was based on the idea that water would run up the surface ofthe curved vanes, come to rest at the inner diameter, and then fall away with practically no velocity. This design inereased the effcieney of undershot wheels to 65 percent, At about the same time, William Faithairn, a Scottish engineer, showed that breast wheels (Le, those in which water enters at the 10- or two-o‘clock position) were more efficient than overshot wheels and less vulnerable to flood damage. He used curved buckets and provided a close-fitting masonry wall to keep the water from flowing out sideways. {In 1828 Fairbairn introduced ventilated buckets in which gaps at the bottom of each bucket allowed trapped air to escape. Other improvements ineluded a governor to control the sluice gates and spur gearing forthe power takeoff During the course of the 19th century, waterwheels were slowly supplanted by water turbines. Water turbines were more efficient; design improvements eventually made it possible to regulate the speed of the turbines and to run them fast enough to drive electric generators. This fact notwithstanding, waterwheels gave way slowly, and it was not until the early 20th century that they became largely obsolescent. Yet even today some waterwheels still survive; in the early 1970s there were more than 41,000 grain mills in use in Portugal alone. Equipped with submerged bearings, these modern waterwheels certainly are more sophisticated than their predecessors, though they bear a remarkable likeness to them. Windmills ‘Windmills like waterwheels, were among the original prime movers that replaced animal muscle as a source of power. They ‘were used for centuries in various parts of the world, converting the energy of the sind into mechanical energy for grinding. grain, pumping water, and draining lowland areas. The frst known wind device was deseribed by Hero of Alexandria (c. 1st century CE). It was modeled on a water-driven paddle sehec! and was used to drive a piston pump that forced air through a wind organ to produce sound. The earliest known references to wind-driven grain mills, found in Arabic writings ofthe gth century, refer to a Persian millwright of 644 ce, although windmills may actually have been used earlier. These mills, erected near what is now the Iran~Afghanistan border, had a vertical shaft with padalelike sails radiating outward and were located in a building with diamettically opposed openings ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 17281518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica for the inlet and outlet of the wind. E: ch mill drove a single set of stones without gearing, The first mills were built with the millstones above the sails, patterned after the early waterwheels from which they were derived. Similar mills were known in China by the 13th century. ‘Windmills with vertical sails on horizontal shafts reached Europe through contact with the Arabs. Adopting the ideas from. contemporary waterwheels, builders began to use fabrie-covered, wood-framed sails located above the millstone, instead of a -waterushieel below, to drive the grindstone through a set of gears. The whole mill with all its machinery. was supported on a fixed, ‘past so that it could be rotated and faced into the wind. The millworks were initially covered by a boxlike wooden frame structure and later often by a “round-house,” which also provided storage. A brake wheel on the shaft allowed the mill to be rt stopped by a rim brake. A heavy lever then had to be raised to release the brake, an early example of a fail-safe device. Mills of this sort first appeared in France in 1180, in areas of Syria under the control of the erusaders in 1190, and in England in 119}. The earliest known illustration is from the Windmill Psalter made in Canterbury, England, in the second half of the 13th century, The large effort required to turn a post-mill into the wind probably was responsible for the development of the so-called tower snill in France by the early 14th century. Here, the millstone and the gearing were placed in a massive fixed tower, often circular in section and built of stone or brick. Only an upper cap, normally made of wood and bearing the sails on its shaft, had to be rotated. Such improved mills spread rapidly throughout Europe and later became popular with early American settlers. ‘The Low Countries of Europe, which had no suitable streams for walerpower, saw the greatest development of windmills. Dutch hollow post-mills, invented in the early 15th century, used a two-step gear drive for drainage pumps, An upright shaft that had gears on the top and bottom passed through the hollow post to drive a paddle-whecl-like scoop to raise water. The first wind- driven sawmill, built in 1592 in the Netherlands by Cornelis Cornelisz, was mounted on a raft to permit easy turning into the wind, At firstoth post-mils and the caps of tower mills were turned manually into the wind, Later small posts were placed around the mill to allow winching ofthe mill with a chain, Eventually winches were placed into the caps of ower mills, engaged with geared racks and operated from inside or from the ground by a chain passing over a whecl. Tower mills had their sail- supporting or tal pole normally inclined at between 5° and 15° to the horizontal This aided the distribution of the huge sal ‘weight on the tail bearing and also provided greater clearance between the sails and the support structure, Windmill became progressively larger, with sails from about 17 to 24 metres in diameter already common inthe 16th century. The material of construction, including all gearing, was wood, although eventually brass or gunmetal came into use for the main bearings. Cast- iran drives were first introduced in 1754 by Jahn Smeaton, the aforementioned English engineer. Little is known about the actual power produced by these mill. Tn all likelihood only from 10 to 15 horsepower was developed at the grinding wheels. A 50-horscnawer mill was not built until the 19th century. The maximum efficiency of large Dutch mills is estimated to have been about 20 percent. Jand invented the fantail a ring of five to eight vanes mounted behind the sails at right angles to them. These were connected by gears to wheels running on a track around the cap of the mil. As the wind changed direction, it struck the sides ofthe fantail vanes, realigning them and thereby turning the main sails again squarely into the wind, Fabric-on- ‘wood-frame sails were sometimes replaced by ll-wood sails with removable sections. Early sails had a constant angle of twist; ‘variable twist sails resembling a moder airplane propeller were developed much later. A-major problem with all windmills was the need to feather the sails or reduce sail area so that ifthe wind suddenly increased during a storm the sails would not be ripped apart. In 1772 Andrew Meilde, a Scottish millwright, invented the spring sail, a shutter arrangement similar to a venetian blind in which the sails were controlled by a spring. When the wind pressure exceeded a preset amount, the shutters opened to let some of the wind pass through. In 1789 Stephen Hooper of England introduced roller blinds that could all be simultaneously adjusted with a manual chain ftom the ground while the mill was working. This was improved upon in 1807 by Sir William Cubitt, who combined Meikle's shutters with Hooper's remote control by hanging varying weights on the adjustment chain, thus making the control automatic. These so-called patent sails, however, found acceptance only in England and northern Europe. ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 181251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica Even though further improvements were made, especially in speed control, the importance of windmills as a major power producer began to decline after 1784, when the first flour mill in England suecessfully substituted a sleam engine for wind power, Yet, the demise of windmills was slow; at one time in the 19th century there were as many as 900 corn (maize) and industrial windmills in the Zaan district of the Netherlands, the highest concentration known. Windmills persisted throughout the 19th century in newly settled or less-industrialized areas, such as the central and western United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They also were built by the hundreds in the West Indies to crush sugareane, ‘The primary exception to the steady abandonment of windmills was resurgence in their use in rural areas for pumping water from wells, The first wind pump was introduced in the United States by David Hallay in 1854. After another American, Stewart Perry, began constructing wind pumps made of steel and equipped with metal vanes in 1883, this new and simple device spread around the world Wind-driven pumps remain important today in many rural parts of the world. They continued to he used in large numbers, even in the United States, well into the 2oth century until low-cost electric power became readily available in rural areas. Although rather inefficient, they are rugged and reliable, need little attention, and remain a prime souree for pumping small amounts of water wherever electricity is not economically available, Fred bonds: Developments of the Industrial Revolution Steam engines The rapid growth of industry in Britain from about the mid-s8th century (and somewhat later in various other countries) created a need for new sourees of motive power, particularly those independent of geographic location and weather conditions This situation, together with certain other factors, set the stage for the development and widespread use of the steam engine, the first practical device for converting thermal energy to mechanical energy. The foundations for the use of steam power are often traced to the experimental work of the French physicist Denis Papin. In 1679 Papin invented a type of pressuze cooker, a closed vessel with a tightly fitting lid that confined steam until high pressure ‘was generated. Observing that the steam in the vessel raised the lid, he conceived the idea of using steam to power a piston and cylinder engine ‘Thomas Savery, an English inventor and military engineer, studied Papin’s work and built a steam-driven suction machine for removing water from coal mines. Savery’s machine (patented in 1698) consisted of a boiler, a closed, water-filled reservoir, and a series of valves. Steam was introduced into the reservoir, and the pressure ofthe steam forced the water out through a one- ‘way outlet valve until the vessel was empty. Water was then sprayed over the surface f the vessel to condense the steam and create a vacuum capable of drawing up more water through a valve below. Unfortunately the vacuum created was not perfect, and so water eould only be lifted toa limited height. ‘Some years later another English engineer, Thomas Newcomen, developed a more efficient steam pump consisting of a cylinder fitted with a piston—a design inspired by Papin’s aforementioned idea. When the cylinder was filled with steam, a counterweighted pump plunger moved the piston to the extreme upper end of the stroke. With the admission of cooling water, the steam condensed, creating a vacuum. The almospheric pressure in the mine acted on the piston and caused it to move down in the cylinder, and the pump plunger was lifted by the resulting foree. Because Savery had obtained a broad patent for his steam device, Newcomen could not patent his engine. He thus entered into ‘a partnership with Savery, and together they built, in 1712, the first piston-operated steam pump. Several years later Smeaton ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 191251518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica improved the Neweomen engine, almost doubling its eff :ney. Although engines of this kind converted only about 1 percent of. the thermal energy in the steam to mechanical energy, they remained unrivaled for more than 50 years. Watt’s engine In 1765 James Watt, a Scottish instrument maker and inventor, modified a Newcomen engine by adding a separate condenser to make it unnecessary to heat and cool the cylinder with each stroke, Because the cylinder and piston remained at steam temperature while the engine was operating, fuel costs dropped by about 75 percent. ‘Watt entered into a partnership with Matthew Boulton, who owned a factory in Soho, near Bicmuingam, England. At Boulton's insistence he set out to develop a new kind of engine that rotated a shaft instead of providing simple up-and-down motion. He found a way to obtain an inflexible connection between piston and rod (beam) and invented special gear arrangements to convert the up-and-down movement ofthe beam into circular motion. A heavy flywheel was added to smooth out the variations in the foree delivered to the engine shaft by the action ofthe piston in the eylinder. The flow of steam to the engine was regulated by a governor connected to the flywheel. In addition, Watt applied steam to both sides ofthe piston to produce greater uniformity of effort and increased power. Although far more difficult to build, Watt's rotative engine opened up an entirely new field of application: it enabled the steam engine to be used to operate rotary machines in factories and cotton mills. The rotative engine was widely adopted itis estimated that by 1800 Watt and Boulton had built 500 engines, of which less than 40 percent were pumps and the rest were of the rotative type. High-pressure steam engines Although Watt understood the advantages of utilizing the expansive power of steam within a cylinder, he refused to use team. under high pressure for reasons of safety. "This limited the application of steam engines. By the early years ofthe roth century, however, the American inventor Oliver Eva hhad built a stationary high-pressure steam engine for driving a rotary erusher to produce pulverized limestone for agricultural use. Within a few years Evans had designed lighter-weight high-pressure steam engines that could do various other tasks, such as drive sawmills, sow grain, and power a dredge. From 1806 to about 1816 he produced more than 100 steam engines that were employed with serew presses for processing paper, cotton, and tobacco, Other major advances in the use of high-pressure steam were achieved by Richard Trevithiek in England during the early years of the 19th century. Trevithick built the world’s first steam-powered railway locomotive in 1803. Two years later he adapted his high-pressure steam engine to drive an iron-rolling mill and to propel a barge with the help of paddle wheels, ‘Watt's engine was able to convert only alittle more than 2 percent of the thermal energy in steam to work. The improvements introduced by Evans, Trevithick, and others (e.g, three separate expansion cycles and higher steam temperatures) increased the efficiency of the steam engine to roughly 17 percent by 1900. Yet, within the next decade the steam engine was supplanted for various important applications by the more efficient steam tushine. Owing to technological advances and the use of high- temperature steam, steam turbines have attained an efficiency of thermal energy conversion of approximately 40 percent. vert & Woodtutf The Edtors ef EreyopaeaaBritonnica Stirling engine Many of the early high-pressure steam boilers exploded because of poor materials and faulty methods of construction, The resultant casualties and property losses motivated Robert Stirling of Scotland to invent a power eycle that operated without a high-pressure boiler. In his engine (patented in 1816), air was heated by external combustion through a heat exchanger and. then was displaced, compressed, and expanded by two pistons, Stirling also conceived the idea of a regenerator to store thermal energy during part of the cycle and then return this energy to the working fluid. A successful Stirling engine was built for factory ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 201281518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica use in 1843, but general use was restricted by the high cost of the device. Nevertheless, until about 1920, small engines of this type were used to pump water on farms and to generate electricity for small communities. Since the Stirling engine is efficient, produces less pollution than most other kinds of engines, and operates on virtually any Kind of fuel, efforts have been made intermittently since the late 1990s to reduce its manufacturing costs. Modern versions of the Stirling engine employ pressurized hvcrogen or heliuun instead of air. Since the 1970s the engine has been adapted for many uses, including cryogenic refrigeration, submarine propulsion, and electrical production. Internal-combustion engines While the steam engine remained dominant in industry and transportation during much of the 1gth century, engineers and scientists began developing other sources and converters of energy. One of the most important of these was the internal- combustion engine. In such a device a fuel and oxidizer are burned within the engine and the produets of combustion act, directly on piston or rotor surfaces. By contrast, an external-combustion device, such as the steam engine, employs a secondary ‘working fluid that is interposed between the combustion chamber and power-producing elements, By the early 1900s the internal-combustion engine had replaced the steam engine as the most broadly applied power-generating system not only ‘because of its higher thermal efficiency (there is no transfer of heat from combustion gases to a secondary working fluid that results in losses in efficiency) but also because it provided a low-weight, reasonably compact, self-contained power plant. ‘The German engineer Nikolaus August Otto is generally credited with having built the first practical internal-combustion ‘engine (1876), though several rudimentary devices had appeared earlier in the century. In 1885 Gottlieb Daimler, another German engineer, modified the four-eyele Otto engine so that it burned gasoline (instead of coal powder) and built the first successful high-speed internal-combustion engine. Within several decades the gasoline engine found wide application in motoreycles, automobiles, and small trucks. Another type of internal-combustion engine was introduced by Rudolf Diese, also of Germany, inthe early 1890s. Named for its inventor, the diesel engine was more efficient than engines of the Otto variety and was fucled by heavy ol, which is cheaper and less volatile than gasoline. Asa result, it was adopted as the primary power plant for submarines, railway locomotives, and heavy machinery, -ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatnous-dynamite 211281518123, 19:16 GGelatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Brkannica air iniot «compressor blades turing Blades Tite ‘An internal-combustion engine quite different from the 1. piston type was developed around the turn of the century. ‘This was the gas-Lurbine engine, the first successful version of which was built in 1903 in Erance. Modern gas turbines have been used for electric power generation and various other purposes, but its primary application has been jet propulsion. In @ gas-turbine system compressed air, heated by the combustion of petroleum, is used to turn a turbine to drive the compressor ‘while excess energy accelerates the exhaust gas to high velocity for producing thrust. Another form of propulsive engine, the rocket, attracted increasing attention during the final decades of the soth century due in part to the imaginative portrayals of space travel fabricated by Jules Verne and other science-fiction writers. From about 1880, various scientists and inventors began investigating problems of rocket motion and propulsion system design. By the 1mid-1920s Robert H. Goddard ofthe United States had developed experimental rockets employing liquid and solid propellants. Electric generators and motors Other important energy-conversion devices emerged during the 19th century. During the early 1830s the English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday. discovered a means by which to convert mechanical energy into electricity on a large scale, While engaged in experimental work on magnetism, Faraday found that moving a permanent magnet into and out ofa coil of wire induced an cleciric current in the wire. This process, called electromagnetic induction, provided the working principle for electric generators. Daring the late 1860s Zénobe-Théophile Gramme, a French engineer and inventor, built a continuous-current generator. Dubbed the Gramme dynam, this device contributed much to the general acceptance of electric power. By the early 1870s Gramme had developed several other dynamos, one of which was reversible and could be used as an electric matar. Electric ‘motors, which convert electrical energy to mechanical energy, run virtually every kind of machine that uses electricity. All of Gramme’s machines were direct-current (DC) devices, It was not until 1888 that Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor, introduced the prototype of the present-day alternating-current (AC) motor. npe:iiwww-brtannica,comvechnologylgeatinous-dynamite 22281518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica Direct energy-conversion devices Most ofthese energy converters, sometimes called static energy-conversion devices, use electrons as their “working fluid” in place of the vapour or gas employed by such dynamic heat engines as the external-combustion and internal-combustion engines ‘mentioned above. In recent years, direct energy-conversion devices have received much attention because ofthe necessity to develop more efficient ways of transforming availabe forms of primary energy into electric power. Four such devices—the electric hattery, th fuel cll, the thermoelectric generator (orat leat its working principle), and the solar cell—had their origins inthe early 1800s, ‘The battery, invented by the Italian physicist Alessandro Valta about 1800, changes chemical enersy dieetly into an electric current. A deviee of this type has two electrodes, each of which is made ofa different chemical. As chemical reactions occur, clectrons are released on the negative electrode and made to flow through an external circuit to the positive electrode. The process continues until the circuit is interrupted or one of the reactants is exhausted. The forerunners of the modern dry cell and the lead-acid storage battery appeared during the second half ofthe aoth century. ‘The {uel cel, another electrochemical producer of electricity, was developed by William Robert Grove, a British physicist, in 1839. In a fuel cell, continuous operation is achieved by feeding fuel (e., bysdragen) and an oxidizer (oxygen) to the cell amd removing the reaction produets. ‘Thermoelectric generators are devices that convert heat directly into electricity, Electric current is generated when electrons are driven by thermal energy across a potential difference at the junction of two conductors made of dissimilar materials, This effect was discovered by ‘Thomas Johann Seebeck, a German physicist, in 1821. Seebeck observed that a compass needle near a circuit made of different conducting materials was deflected when one of the junctions was heated. He investigated various materials that produce: lectric energy with an efficiency of 3 percent. This efficieney was comparable to that of the steam. engines of the day. Yet, the significance of the discovery of the thermoclectric effect went unrecognized as a means of producing, electricity because of Seebeck’s misinterpretation of the phenomenon as a magnetic effect caused by a difference in temperature. A basic theory of thermoelectricity was finally formulated during the early 1900s, though no functional generators were developed until much later. Ina solar cell, radiant energy drives electrons across a potential difference at a semiconductor junction in which the concentrations of impurities are different on the two sides of the junction. What is often considered the first genuine solar cell ‘was builtin the late 1800s by Charles Fritts, who used junctions formed by coating selenium (a semiconductor) with an extremely thin layer of gold (see below Exploiting renewable energy sources). m developments ‘The 2oth century brought a host of important scientific discoveries and technological advances, including new and better materials and improved methods of fabrication. These developments permitted the enhancement and refinement of many of the energy-conversion devices and systems that had been introduced during the previous century, as exernplified by the remarkable evolution of jet engines and rockets. They also gave rise to entirely new technologies. Discovery and application of nuclear energy Fission reactors Scientists frst learned of the tremendous energy bound in the nueleus of the atom during the early years of the century. In 1942 they succeeded in unleashing that energy on a large seale by means of what was called an atomic pile. This was the first nuclear {fission reactor, a device designed to induce @ self-sustaining and controlled series of fission reactions that split heavy nuclei to release their energy. It was built for the U.S, Manhattan Project undertaken to develop the atomic bomb. Shortly after World War II, reactors were built for submarine propulsion and for commercial power production. The first full-scale commercial nuclear power plant was opened in 1956 at Calder Hall, England. In a power-generation system of this kind, much of the energy ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 221281518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica released by the fissioning of heavy nuclei (principally those of the radioactive isotope uranium-235) takes the form of heat, hich is used to produce steam, This steam drives a turbine, the mechanical energy of which is converted to electricity by a generator, Fusion reactors In the late 1930s Hans A. Bethe, a German-born physicist, recognized that the fusion of hydrogen nuclei to form deuterium releases energy. Since that time scientists have sought to harness such thermonuclear reactions for practical energy production. “Much of their work has centred on the use of magnetic fields and electromagnetic forees to confine plasma, an exceedingly hot a8 composed of unbound electrons, ions, and neutral atoms and molecules. Plasma is the only state of matter in which thermonuclear reactions can be induced and sustained to generate usable amounts of thermal energy. The difficulty isin ‘confining plasma long enough for this to happen. Although researchers have made significant headway toward constructing fasion reactors capable of such confinement, no device ofthis kind has been developed sufficiently for commercial application. Other conversion technologies Energy requirements for space vehicles led to an intensive investigation, from 1955 on, of all possible energy sources. Direct gy-conversion devices are of interest for providing clectrie power in spacecraft because of their reliability and their lack of parts. As have solar eels, fuel cells, and thermoelectric generators, thermionic power converters have received considerable attention for space applications. Thermionic generators are designed to convert thermal energy directly into electricity. The required heat energy may be supplied by chemical, solar, or nuclear sources, the latter being the preferred choice for current experimental units. Another direct energy converter with considerable potential is the magnetobydrodynamic (MHD) power generator. This system, produces electricity directly from a high-temperature, high-pressure electrically conductive fluid—usually an ionized gas— ‘moving through a strong magnetic field. The hot fluid may be derived from the combustion of coal or other fossil fuel. The first successfull MHD generator was built and tested during the 1950s. Since that time developmental efforts have progressed steadily, culminating in a Russian project to build an MHD power plant in the city of Ryazan, located about 180 kilometres (112 miles) southeast of Moscow. Exph Growing concern over the world’s ever-increasing energy needs and the prospect of rapidly dwindling reserves of oil, natural 8, and uranium fuel have prompted efforts to develop viable aliemnative energy sources. The volatility and uncertainty ofthe ‘petroleum fuel supply were dramatically brought to the fore during the energy crisis ofthe 1970s caused by the abrupt curtailment of ol shipments from the Middle East to many ofthe highly industrialized nations of the world. It also has been recognized thatthe heavy reliance on fossil fuels has had an adverse impact on the environment, Gasoline engines and steamn- turbine power plants that burn coal or natural gas emit substantial amounts of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. When these gases combine with atmospheric water vapour, they form sulfuric acid and nitric acids, giving rise to highly acidic precipitation. The combustion of fossil fuels also releases carbon dioxide, The amount of ths gas in the atmosphere has steadily risen since the mid-1800s largely as a result ofthe growing consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas. More and more scientists believe that the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide (along with that of other industrial gases such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons) may induce a greenhouse effect, raising the surface temperature of the Earth by increasing the amount of heat trapped in the lower atmosphere. This condition could bring about climatic changes with serious ‘repercussions for natural and agricultural ecosystems. (Fora detailed discussion of acid rain and the greenhouse effect, see the articles global warming, climatic variation and change, and hydrosphere: Acid rain and Buildup of greenhouse gases.) ing renewal gy sources Many countries have initiated programs to develop renewable energy technologies that would enable them to reduce fossil-fuel consumption and its attendant problems, Fusion devices are believed to be the best long-term option, since their primary ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 241281518123, 19:16 GGolatinous dynamite | chemical explosive | Britannica energy source would be the hydrogen isotope deuterium abundantly present in ordinary water. Other technologies that are being actively pursued are those designed to make wider and more efficient use of the energy in sunlight, wind, moving water, and terrestrial heat (ie., geothermal energy). The amount of energy in such renewable and virtually pollution-free sources is large in relation to world energy needs, yet at the present time only a small portion of it can be converted to electric reasonable cost. wer at A variety of devices and systems has been created to better tap the energy in sunlight. Among the most efficient are photovoltaic systems that transform radiant energy from the Sun directly into electricity by means of silicon or gallium arsenide solar cells, Large arrays consisting of thousands of these semiconductor cells can function as central power stations. Other systems, which are still under development, are designed to concentrate solar radiation not only to generate electric power but also to produce high-temperature process heat for various applications. These systems employ a number of different components, including, large parabolic concentrators and heat engines of the Stirling engine type (see above). Another approach involves the use of flat-plate solar collectors to provide space heating for commercial and residential buildings. Although wind is intermittent and diffuse, it contains tremendous amounts of energy. Sophisticated wind turbines have been developed to convert this energy to electric power. The utilization of wind energy systems grew discernibly during the 1980s. For example, more than 15,000 wind turbines are now in operation in Hawaii and California at specially selected sites. Their combined power rating of 1,500 megawatts is roughly equal to that of a conventional steam-turbine power installation. Converting the energy in moving water to electricity has been a long-standing technology. Yet, hydroelectric power plants are estimated to provide only about 2 percent of the world’s energy requirements, The technology involved is simple enough: hydraulic turbines change the energy of fast-flowing or falling water into mechanical energy that drives power generators, which produce electricity. Hydroelectric power plants, however, generally require the building of costly dams. Another factor that limits any significant increase in hydroelectric power production isthe scarcity of suitable sites for additional installations except in certain regions of the world In certain coastal areas of the world, as, for example, the Rance River estuary in Brittany, France, hydraulic turbine-generator units have been used to harness the great amount of energy in ocean tides. At most such sites, the capital costs of constructing, damlike structures with which to trap and store water are prohibitive, however. Geothermal energy flows from the hot interior of the Earth to the surface in steam or hot water most often in areas of active voleanism. Geothermal reservoirs with temperatures of 180 °C or higher are suitable for power generation. The earliest commercial geothermal power plant was built in 1904 in Larderello, Ialy, Today, steam from wells drilled to depths of hundreds of metres drives the plant's sushine generators to produce about 190 megawatts of electricity. Geothermal plants have been built in a number of other countries, including EI Salvador, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States. The principal U.S. plant, located at ‘The Geysers north of San Francisco, can generate up to 1,900 megawatts, though production may be restricted to prolong the life of the steam field. Charles Russet The Editors of Eneylopaedia Britannica ntps:iwwwn-brtannica.comfechnology/gelatinous-dynamite 25125