Steam Power

• Water heated->changes to steam->expands

• Video:

Development of the Steam Engine

• 1712: first steam engine– Slow

• James Watt: faster, more efficient engine

• Used in textile mills– Factories could be built near supplies of fuel,

workers, roads/ports

Locomotives

• Richard Trevithick->used steam to power first locomotive

• Transportation revolution

Ships

• Robert Fulton

• Clermont

• Hudson River between NYC and Albany

• First profitable use of steam navigation

Coal for British Steam Engines

• Steam: requires fuel to heat water

• Wood scarce

• Coal mining grew

• 1800->80% of Europe’s coal

• Coal in north & west– Urbanized

Danger!

• Mine explosions

• Coal dust

• Collapsing shafts

• Hard labor

• Use of children

“The children, boys and girls, earned their wages by drawing

the coals in tubs along the galleries by means of a belt and chain, which passed around their

waists. Many girls were thus employed, and after a time

became crooked and deformed.”

A child coal miner. The bag in his left pocket contains chewing tobacco.

Goats pull a load of coal out of the mine. The coal companies also used mules and women and children for this job. It was said among the miners that the company didn’t care if a man (or woman or child) got killed, because they were easy to replace. If a mule got killed, however, there would be hell to pay because mules were expensive.

Afghanistan TodayThe tunnels extend for four kilometres into the mountains at depths of

750 metres. The geological pressures are massive and there is a regular sound of cracking wood as pine supports splinter.

During the civil war there was fighting between rival factions for control of the mine. The miners worked on below as the bullets flew above

ground.

America• Coal mining is considered to be one of

America's most dangerous jobs due to a number of high profile mining accidents that captured the nation's attention in recent years. The workplace fatality rate for coal miners in 2008 was 22 deaths per 100,000 workers. Coal miners are required to work in conditions that are ripe for explosion, due to the possibility of the buildup of volatile methane gases. The Sage Mine in West Virginia exploded on January 2, 2006, trapping 13 workers. Only one of the trapped miners survived the explosion. The average pay rate for coal miners is $46,540 per year as of 2008.