04 Feb A Simple Lesson About Steam Power in the Kitchen

We’ve been studying the classic children’s book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel as part of our Five in a Row homeschool curriculum. This is the story about Mike Mulligan, who, along with his beloved steam shovel, Mary Ann, finds himself caught in a changing world. In fact, the book was written in 1939, around the time when steam shovels were being replaced with diesel engines, which were cheaper and simpler to use.

Learning How a Steam Shovel Works

Clark was immediately fascinated by the steam shovel in the story and wanted to know exactly how it worked. We learned that the first, crude steam engines were patented in the late 1600s by Thomas Savery. However, they became much more widely used in the late 18th century when James Watt introduced some modifications. The steam engine replaced water and muscle power to become a primary source of power in the Industrial Revolution.

We found several books and resources to help us understand exactly how steam works to move machines:

• Easy Science for Kids:  All About Steam Engines
• How Steam Trains Work (video)
• Steam Shovel in Action (this video pictures a red steam shovel, which Clark and Luci were convinced was Mary Ann)
• Steam Shovel History

A Simple Lesson About Steam Power In The Kitchen

Several times in our reading, it was mentioned how a simple kettle of water could be boiled on the stove, demonstrating the power of steam. We decided to try it out. We put a kettle of water on the stove to boil. Apparently that, in itself, is fascinating to kids – watching the bubbles form and rise to the top, waiting for the whistle, telling us the obvious fact that the water is now boiling and putting off steam…  or maybe it’s just fascinating because I never let them get this close to the stove while it’s on…

The plan was to see if the power of steam could move a pinwheel. Luci went first, and she hypothesized that her pin wheel would just get wet. She was partly right, but very surprised to see that the pinwheel started to spin! Don’t you love the looks of surprise and discovery on the kids faces?

Clark was next. He experimented with turning the pinwheel in many different directions, and was fascinated to find that it always spun.

Our Conclusion

We concluded that if a little steam could move a little pinwheel, a lot of steam could move a much bigger machine.