Mythbusters Blackpowder Engine Challenge

Is it somekind of steam engine? Would you please explain how it works?

Cool thanks

you for sure knocked em off that show,you showed them wrong , respect ! +5

Thanks I guess by "cheating" you mean compressing the powder into a slow burning log?

Good job on the engine. I didn't see the episode but certainly will now. I think in the stricted sense of the challenge you did it but also it seems as if you may have cheated a little. I think Jamie (who cheats constantly) would agree you are sucessful but Adam (sticking strictly to the rules) might be skeptical. Nice engine, though! =)

nice

Thanks to all for viewing. Yes, there is some debate regarding "internal combustion"… that is to say, having the flame front impinge on the top of the piston, yet this could be accomplished.

awsome

I just saw this episode of mythbusters today, and yes, I agree you have demonstrated it CAN be done – however – the show did mention that black powder does not need an oxygen source. They also tried running an internal combustion engine with the powder inside the combustion chamber, which I think is the essence of what they were trying to prove. I challenge you to do that with either a 2 cycle or 4 cycle gasoline engine, or steam engine. Thought…how about a single rotor Wankel?

It's not fake… I woulda made it more dramatic

The Mythbusters were idiots and said a black powder engine was impossible in one their episodes. The Mythbusters even built a few which failed miserably. Even if this video is fake, you can build an engine to run on an explosive like black powder.

can you upload a sketch somewere and link to it by any chance?

Look just below the pipe elbow (at the oscillating piston head). You'll see a little smoke come out.

Well, most of the smoke is filtered out in the pressure chamber. There is a very fine mesh screen inside it, which helps to catch most of the particulates. If you watch closely in the video, you might notice a very slight puff of smoke.

very cool, but where is all the smoke?

When black powder is burned (combusted) it produces gases
(CO2, SO2, etc.) and solid pariculate matter (smoke). These gases are what drove the piston and produced motion. There was no visible smoke because the engine and internal filter trapped it.

BTW, it's spelled powder, not "pouder" and it's fuel not "fule". Also, you should capitalize the first letter of a word that begins a sentence. Makes you look smart.

But then, you're a comedian, right?

NO !

There is no "water" or "steam" in the system. Only the hot gases produced by the burning black powder log.

There is no heat exchanger.

The system is open loop.

ok now black pouder doesnt run this engine, all as your doing is using a black pouder log to !HEAT! your !FULE! witch is water/steam. you could just as well heat it on your stove or wood ect. to run the steam engine.

Just because the combustion gas (BYPRODUCTS OF COMBUSTION) enter the cylinder does not make it an internal combustion engine.
I don't have to think of the expansion chamber as an extension of the combustion chamber, it isn't. Just like an intake manifold isn't an extension of the combustion chamber.
Here is "the test" make ANY internal combustion engine run B/P and it in tern drives the motor for either 2 or 4 cycles. Try again, I don't need a sketch, pressure engines have been around for eons

The black powder log is NOT OUTSIDE the system. Yes it is a "steam" engine, but in this configuration, combustion gases enter the cylinder (not steam), thus making it "internal". Contact me for a sketch if you want.

Think of the expansion chamber/pressure vessel as a continuation of the cylinder.

If "internal" requires that actual flames hit the top of the piston, then I can build that kind of black powder engine. How about running a 2-cyl chainsaw engine on BP ? Challenge me.

Dear God No.

no its .2 grams of it,2 grams would be so powerful youd kill youself igniting that with your face 1 ft to the side of it

What I am saying is if you take a steam engine (which the maker of the video ADMITS) and you modify it to run on a scuba tank of oxygen, its not an oxygen engine, if it uses black powder, or nitrogen, or etc. IT IS STILL A STEAM ENGINE, THE DESIGN IS THE SAME YOUR ONLY CHANGING WHAT GIVES IT THE PRESSURE. Run a Briggs and Stratton on that fuel log, let me know how it works. What do you mean it doesn't work? Maybe its because this engine is a steam engine running black powder for pressure? Nice !

Gupnup, I have a perfect working knowledge of the engineering behind any engine, sadly this still is not an engine that is any different from a steam engine. Tell me, where does the combustion on a steam engine occur? Outside. Where and how is the power transmitted to the crankshaft? Via an internal piston driven by the pressure created OUTSIDE. Its not rocket science, it is a steam engine that runs off the black powder propellant burning outside. Its like saying coal runs a steam engine.

yes its a bad idea to make more then 1-2 grams of it