Steamships provided safe, fast, dependable water transportation. Most steam engines have a furnace in which coal, oil, or some other fuel is burned to produce heat energy. Every steam engine has a boiler. The heat energy produced inside the furnace or reactor changes water into steam inside the boiler. The steam expands, taking up many times the space of the original water.
Steam turbines produce a rotary motion.
A steam turbine has many sets of bladed wheels mounted on a long shaft. The steam enters at one end and spins the bladed wheels as it rushes past them. Steam turbines, which are more efficient than reciprocating steam engines, are used to turn electric generators and ship propellers. See Turbine . Reciprocating steam engines have pistons that slide back and forth in cylinders.