h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: A Guide to Steam: - A33912416
Author: FordsTowel - U227087

Almost a year old!

I just found that we don't seem to have a general interest piece on Steam!!

We should want a good one

But this is probably not it

Looks good, but it needs some work, you need to take out the personal referenced (a word i just made up)

you do not mention steam power it was muchly useful for making trains go in the days before diesel and electricity were used.

You can definatly add more to this, but good start.

mini

You are one BRILLIANT and absolutely mousely correct mini!

Yes, the beginning was originally a tongue-in-cheek thingy, but it does not belong in an EG pieces. I'll rework that and address the other





Now, are you cheesey or chess-y?

i will eavea message on your PS explaining that, best not to clutter up the review thread

Oh and i am no expert, but i am sure the experts will be along soon and help out more than i have done.

with it.

mini

Some people insist that steam is water at over 100 degrees and is an invisible gas. They claim that anybody that calls that white fluffy stuff that comes out of a kettle "steam" is using the wrong word. These people are clearly wrong, since the word steam predates the study of invisible gases. I'm glad you've gone the other route, of accepting that steam can be cool refreshing stuff. Stick to your guns on this, even if people tell you it is otherwise.

I was taught that the invisible stuff was 'water vapour' and the the stuff with a suspended mist of droplets was 'steam'. Having said that, I guess it's the pressurised water vapour that drives steam engines.

Ictoan wrote this nice Guide Entry on Stirling Engines: A9042707

I was taught that the invisible stuff was steam and the stuff you can see is water vapour, the exact opposite, which shows that there is some confusion here. I always thought that view was crazy.

I agree with Gnomon's last point, 'co clouds are water vapour.

I diagree with his earlier point that the stuff that emanates from a kettle spout is not steam. IMO steam is water vapour at over 100 deg C, and this is what distinguises it from cloud

> 'coz clouds are water vapour.

BTW I had assumed that this Entry was gonna be about steam engines (i.e. trains), so I put off reading it until I had more time. So, I agree with the Researcher earlier who said these needv to be mentioned

If nothing else, I think the entry could mention Heron of Alexandria's completely useless steam engine.

Having given this a more detailed read, I object to the bit in it that says you can't see steam. That's rubbish. I see steam coming out of my kettle when I boil it. That's what the word "steam" means. Ask the man in the street.

The problem with trying to define steam, is that what we usually refer to as steam does not conform to a sensible unambiguous definition.

My interpretation goes something like this: either (or both) water in its gaseous phase and/or suspensions of liquid water in air, created by boiling liquid water at standard temperature and pressure.

Or in other words, steam refers to both water vapour (a gas) and clouds of droplets in air, but ONLY when it’s hot. E.g:
The hot gaseous water that drives steam turbines is steam; the cold gaseous water that exists in humid air is not.
The white fluffy stuff that comes from your kettle is steam; the white fluffy stuff in the sky is not.

Steam and not-steam are the same but at different temperature and pressure, with ambiguous breakpoints. The technical definition of steam as used by engineers is therefore simply the gas phase of water. But this is not the dictionary definition.

As this is very much a non-technical entry, I’d suggest that a common or dictionary definition is used (if you can define it ), but it ought to be consistent.

Sorry to chuck that spanner in.

Some hopefully more constructive comments:

< Hot - Generally, just above the boiling point of the liquid. Great removing wallpaper, clearing the pores, and for tea.> *for* removing wallpaper. I would’ve though that steam at >100 degrees would be extremely dangerous for clearing the pores . And can you really make tea from steam?

< Steam is most often created from water> - it *is* water.
< How to recognise steam: You can't, visually.> - disagree with this; see above.
< Steam is a gas composed of hydrogen-water molecules> - hydrogen is an atom; water is a molecule. This should either be water molecules, or molecules comprising hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
< Steaming is a euphemism for moving with great speed or vigor.> In Scotland, steaming = blind drunk

SO MANY VALID POINTS!

Where to start!

Darned variable definitions!! A Pox on them!
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Merriam-Webster
Main Entry: 1steam
Pronunciation: \&#712;st&#275;m\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English stem, from Old English st&#275;am; akin to Dutch stoom steam
Date: before 12th century
1: a vapor arising from a heated substance
2 a: the invisible vapor into which water is converted when heated to the boiling point b: the mist formed by the condensation on cooling of water vapor
3 a: water vapor kept under pressure so as to supply energy for heating, cooking, or mechanical work ; also : the power so generated b: active force : power , momentum ; also : normal force c: pent-up emotional tension
4 a: steamer 2a b: travel by or a trip in a steamer
**********************
thefreedictionary.com
steam (stm)
n.
1.
a. The vapor phase of water.
b. A mist of cooling water vapor.
2.
a. Pressurized water vapor used for heating, cooking, or to provide mechanical power.
b. The power produced by a machine using pressurized water vapor.
c. Steam heating.
3. Power; energy.
v. steamed, steam·ing, steams
v.intr.
1. To produce or emit steam.
2. To become or rise up as steam.
3. To become misted or covered with steam.
4. To move by means of steam power.
5. Informal To become very angry; fume.
v.tr.
To expose to steam, as in cooking.
***********************
webster-dictionary.net
Definition of Steam
Pronunciation: st&#275;m
n.
1. The elastic, aëriform fluid into which water is converted when heated to the boiling point; water in the state of vapor.
2. The mist formed by condensed vapor; visible vapor; - so called in popular usage.
*****************
At least there are SOME consistencies.

I like the word aëriform.

The Oxford English Dictionary has 17 meanings for the noun, the most relevant of which to this discussion is:

6. a. The vapour into which water is converted when heated. In popular language, applied to the visible vapour which floats in the air in the form of a white cloud or mist, and which consists of minute globules or vesicles of liquid water suspended in a mixture of gaseous water and air. (Also sometimes applied to the vapour arising from other liquids when heated.) In modern scientific and technical language, applied only to water in the form of an invisible gas.

The invisible ‘steam’, in the modern scientific sense, is, when its temperature is lowered, converted into the white vapour called ‘steam’ in popular language, and this under continued cooling, becomes ‘water’ in the liquid form.

*dry steam*: in Steam-engine working, steam containing no suspended vesicles of water: opposed to *wet steam*.

It quotes (among others)

1785 PRIESTLEY in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 305 Having transmitted steam, or the vapour of water, through a copper tube.

Referring back to my original post:
["I just found that we don't seem to have a general interest piece on Steam!!

We should want a good one

But this is probably not it"]

I may have been right the first time

All you have to do is to acknowedge the two different meanings for the word steam.

hows this coming along fordstowel?

Noth€r