Dominance of Dynamic Conversion
We live in a world of motion. A main task of the engineer is to find better and more efficient ways of transforming the energy locked in the sun’s rays or in fuels, such as coal and the uranium nucleus, into energy of motion. Almost all the world’s energy is now transformed by rotating or reciprocating machines. We couple the energy of exploding gasoline and air to our automobile’s wheels by a reciprocating engine. The turbogenerator at a hydroelectric plant extracts energy from falling water and turns it into electricity. Such rotating or reciprocating machines are called dynamic converters.