Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com
Speaker 1: where smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question.
Speaker 1: Is it possible to use gas turbine engines in cars
Speaker 1: or other places besides gend airplanes? Everyone has seen a
Speaker 1: gas turbine engine. The jet engines on a commercial airliner
Speaker 1: are gas turbans. These engines burn fuel to create a
Speaker 1: high speed stream of exhaust. The exhaust blows against turbine
Speaker 1: blades that cause the turbine shaft to spin. You can
Speaker 1: do lots of different things with that spinning shaft. In helicopters,
Speaker 1: gas turbine engines can turn the helicopter's main rotor. In
Speaker 1: the M one tank, a horsepower gas turbine engine drives
Speaker 1: the tracks. In a power plant, a gas turbine engine
Speaker 1: can spin the generator. Gas turbines are a relatively efficient
Speaker 1: way to convert a fuel and mechanical energy, and compared
Speaker 1: to a piston engine of the same horsepower, gas turbines
Speaker 1: are lighter, smaller, and simpler. The big problem with gas
Speaker 1: turbine engines has been the cost, but prices are falling,
Speaker 1: so it's fair to ask if we will be seeing
Speaker 1: gas turbans in more and more applications. One place where
Speaker 1: gas turbine engines are likely to appear as hybrid cars.
Speaker 1: The gas turbine could drive a generator, and it would
Speaker 1: be a lot smaller and lighter than a piston engine.
Speaker 1: Small gas turbine engines have also been proposed as a
Speaker 1: replacement for batteries. A tiny gas turbine could, in theory,
Speaker 1: power a laptop computer. Soldiers now carry so many electronic
Speaker 1: devices and proposed exoskeleton systems for soldiers needs so much
Speaker 1: power that the military is considered using gas turbine engines
Speaker 1: to provide the electricity for future soldiers. Do you have
Speaker 1: any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please
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