Question

The Steam engine is based on which scientific principle?
(A) Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction
(B) Laws of thermodynamics
(C) Ampere's Law
(D) Total internal reflection of light

Answer 1

Hint
Steam engine is an engine that uses the expansion or rapid condensation of steam to generate power. Steam engine invented by Thomas Savery and Edward Huber, In about 1712 another Englishman, Thomas Newcomen, developed a more efficient steam engine with a piston separating the condensing steam from the water. In 1765 James Watt greatly improved the Newcomen engine by adding a separate condenser to avoid heating and cooling the cylinder with each stroke.

Complete step by step answer
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force is transformed, by a connecting rod and flywheel, into rotational force for work.
On the other hand, Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that deals with the relationships between heat and other forms of energy. In particular, it describes how thermal energy is converted to and from other forms of energy and how it affects matter. So, the steam engine is based on laws of thermodynamics.
Option (B) is correct.

Note
Traditionally, thermodynamics has stated three fundamental laws: the first law, the second law, and the third law. A more fundamental statement was later labelled the 'zeroth law'. The zeroth law of thermodynamics defines thermal equilibrium and forms a basis for the definition of temperature.