Driving a Turbine With Compost Heat

Most recent answer: 10/28/2013

Q:
Can you use heat from compost to turn a turbine without boiling water to create steam that would push the turbine . My reasoning is that if heat rises then the upward power of the rising heat should spin the turbine .
- Abby (age 15)
USA MD
A:

That would work, but very weakly. The beauty of boiling water is that it expands a whole lot going from liquid to gas. That's good for driving turbines. Heating air only makes it expand a little bit.

Mike W.


(published on 10/28/2013)