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given that water becomes water vapour at around 0˚C in 0 atmospheric pressure would it be possible to make a steam engine that could exploit this in space?

I understand that the water vapour would increase the pressure in any given container thereby raising the pressure above 0 and cancelling out the effects, but would it be able to create a cycle between the 2 pressures?

Pinback
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    Why do you think water vaporizes in zero gravity at 0C? That would make keeping astronauts hydrated really hard! – tpg2114 May 10 '18 at 11:32
  • Liquid boiling points lower as atmospheric pressure drops - water will vaporise at around 0˚C – Pinback May 10 '18 at 13:43
  • Sure -- but zero gravity is not the same as being in a vacuum. You can have normal gravity but vacuum and you can have normal pressure but zero gravity. So boiling point doesn't have anything to do with gravity. – tpg2114 May 10 '18 at 13:47
  • I think the point you're trying to make is probably explained more concisely here – Pinback May 10 '18 at 13:51
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    Gotta say, @tpg2114's wording seems pretty concise to me as it stands. – Ben51 May 10 '18 at 18:01
  • Boiling point has nothing to do with gravity - to paraphrase. It simply says "Your premis is wrong" without explaining why. – Pinback May 10 '18 at 18:40
  • @Pinback I was aiming to get you to clarify your question. Are you interested in a steam engine in a vacuum or one in zero gravity? If you want an explanation of why your premise is wrong, then ask that as a question (or find an existing one as you did). If you want your question posted here answered, then clarify what you are interested in. As it stands, any answers you get may not address your actual interests. – tpg2114 May 10 '18 at 18:49
  • fair enough I'll re draft the question – Pinback May 10 '18 at 19:56

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Yes.

The steam engines work on the principle that the heat would increase the pressure in a fixed volume. If you make one exit for the steam and connect it to a turbine then you would generate torque even in zero gravity.

Similar to Italian mocha coffee machine which make the heated steamy water go against the gravity. Same principle but much smaller scale.

The problem is where to find water in a spaceship. Of course if you land on an asteroid or a comet you may find enough water, I guess.

Oktay Doğangün
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Steam engine or any heat engine works on the principle of pressure difference between two regions (inside the combustion cylinder and outside it, i.e, atmosphere). Now if the atmospheric pressure is zero, the pressure difference between inside the combustion cylinder and the atmosphere is greater than at usual atmospheric pressure. Hence, steam engine will operate even with more efficiency.

Shaheed Ullah Khattak
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In this video water is put into a vacuum chamber and made to boil by lowering the pressure and freezing as a result of effects of boiling. Notable that the water continues to make water vapour even after freezing.

However the point of a steam engine is to create force from the pressure of the steam.

Pinback
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The tesla cold steam turbine has been reproduced here in the modern age by well more then a dozen people and on 3 different continents so far with complete success. This device proves that having two separate water tanks under high vacuum and connected to each other in an air tight water line circuit completely closed to the outside environment, one tank must be at subzero temperatures while the other at above zero temperatures. The greater the difference between the thermal energy, potential difference of the two tanks, Place any kind of kinetic force measuring tool or any steam turbine placed between the two tanks within the vacuum circuit. Then open the water lines and watch the magic of science unfold before your eyes. Kinetic energy will most assuredly be applied to whatever kinetic force measuring tool or steam turbine that you install into the circuit between the two tanks within the vacuum circuit. Nikola Tesla explicitly developed his bladeless tesla turbine for use specifically within this design and no other. It so happens that the tesla bladeless turbine is the most efficient turbine design to be used in a high vacuum near zero atmospheric pressure cold steam energy generating system. As Nikola Tesla discovered be us.

Matt Tracy
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