What is a Stirling Engine and how does it work?
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There are a few different designs, but the general idea is super simple. When air is heated, it gets bigger, and when it cools it gets smaller.
You have two sides of a container, one hot and one cold. When the air is in the hot side it expands and pushes a piston. Then, the air is moved to the cold side where it contracts and pulls the piston. It then gets moved back to the hot side and the cycle continues.
One easy way to do this is by having a tube with a hot end and a cold end, and a solid “displacer” moves to force the air out of whichever end is not currently in use.
This whole process generates motion from the heat difference between the hot and cold sides.
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