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"Hey. What'th thith?" Troi asked, bending down to sniff at the boiler Drex had mounted on one side of a wooden board. He pulled back a little as soon as he noticed how hot it was. "It a boiler. A steam generator. That's gonna power this whole thing." Drex explained, "Right now, the water that's in there is around 210 degrees Fahrenheit." "And the reth-t of it ith a th-team engine?" The black dragon looked up at his friend with curiosity. "Most of it is. This piece on the right is the engine, yes. You've got an outlet pipe coming off the boiler here." Drex said as he pointed to the corresponding components of his machine. "That passes through this valve and down to the inlet of the cylinder. When I open that valve, the steam will go in and push on one side of the cylinder until it can escape. It'll then be channeled over to the other side of the cylinder and push it the other way. Once it comes through the outlet, it travels back into the boiler where it'll help heat up fresh water." "What about all the th-team that'th ethcaping?" Troi asked, gesturing to the light grey wisps that drifted away from the boiler's little stack. "Oh, that's fine. It'll come out where it can. I do have to drain the water out of the cylinder too. It doesn't compress like steam and could cause problems to the system if I don't." Troi grunted in understanding while Drex set his paw on the boiler to feel how hot it was. Satisfied, he reached over and grasped the valve lever between two of his talons. "Now watch this." The red dragon turned the lever 20 degrees, and the single cylinder engine slowly moved as a result. There was another little valve at the outlet for the cylinder. It started to sputter a little before spraying droplets of scolding water onto the cave floor. After a couple cycles, the blow-down valve was closed and Drex flipped the main valve all the way open for a second. The engine was suddenly a blur of motion as its little drive rod zipped back and fourth. "Ok. So you see that wheel there?" the red dragon asked, pointing to a heavy little wheel that slowly stopped spinning. "That's a flywheel. It just helps balance the rotation of the drive axle and keeps the engine from becoming stuck in between strokes." Drex beckoned Troi to come sit next to him now. "Here's what it does. I like this most." The red dragon waved at the left side of the machine this time. "So the drive rod runs a gear which, when this other gear is engaged, turns this spool. There's a piece of fishing line tied between this spool and the throwing arm. Potential energy builds up as the arm is drawn back. Once I've set the break on the spool and disconnected it from the engine, I can then release the break which releases all that potential energy in one kinetic motion. Whatever is in this little cup goes flying across the room at that point." He raised his head up in the air and yelled into the cavern where the family treasure was stored. "Hey Fliz! We're ready!" Moments later, Fliz strode into the main chamber carrying a basket full of coal in her mouth. Vliticus trotted after her levitating some pieces of paper in the air in front of him. A couple pencils and some chalk were clenched in his paw. The blue dragon set her basket down next to Drex while their brother continued out a ways to draw distance markers. "Hi Flith!" Troi said excitedly to her when she had arrived. "Hey. I've got a great idea for a game today. Wanna try?" The black dragon eagerly shook his head yes to Fliz's delight. "I thought you'd say that. What we're gonna do is shoot off pieces of coal from Drex's steam catapult, and you and Vliticus are gonna try to guess where they end up." "They end up on the floor, right?" Drex chimed in suddenly. Fliz mentally face-palmed and shook her head. "They should be thrown about 10 or 15 feet away. My brother will take a couple practice shots so that you two can see how hard each piece will be thrown. We're judging it by where the coal initially strikes the ground. It should leave some kind of black mark on the stone where ever it lands." Troi nodded his understanding, but titled his head to the side confused. "Do we juith-t blurt out our guetheth?" The blue dragon was about to answer, but Vliticus walked over just then and did it for her. "We have those pieces of paper I brought to write on. Fliz wants us to keep our answers in a neat column. Shot one, then shot two below that and so on." "Well let'th get th-tarted." Troi said with excitement. They took a seat out of the way and watched as one piece of coal was lobbed across the room. Moments later, Drex had rewound the spool and loaded another chunk into the catapult. The spool's break lever clicked out of gear and the throwing arm shot forward, hurling the little black mineral through the air. Now that they were attuned to the operation of the catapult, Vliticus and Troi collected their pencils and waited for the first real shot. Vliticus had drawn a little chart on both of their pages so that they could better organize and record the distances. "Now don't cheat off of each other. I want you to make your own determinations, understand?" Fliz instructed them. Once Troi and Vliticus had responded, they shifted their attention back to the catapult and another shot was released. Both dragons watched the coal fly for a moment before simultaneously leaning down and scribbling numbers out on the top row of their charts. Four more shots were sent flying, and each time the dragons would be strictly focused on their own page as they recorded their estimations. The 'game' ended when the little basket next to Drex was empty. Fliz walked over to where the coal had landed, and chalked numbers next to each dirty smudge they had left on the floor. "Ok. Now you can bring your pages over here. Did you bring that tape measure Drex?" The red dragon produced a little brass disc from somewhere beside him. He inserted one end of the tape into a crack on the floor and handed the disc off to his sister. Fliz awkwardly waddled backward as she let the tape unwind. When she got to the first mark, she took a measurement through its center and checked the numbers against her friends' charts. "These are almost identical to the measurements I'm getting. Neither of you were very accurate in guessing inches. That's not really a big problem though." "That wath fun. Can we do thome more?" Troi asked.

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Description
"Hey. What'th thith?" Troi asked, bending down to sniff at the boiler Drex had mounted on one side of a wooden board. He pulled back a little as soon as he noticed how hot it was. "It a boiler. A steam generator. That's gonna power this whole thing." Drex explained, "Right now, the water that's in there is around 210 degrees Fahrenheit." "And the reth-t of it ith a th-team engine?" The black dragon looked up at his friend with curiosity. "Most of it is. This piece on the right is the engine, yes. You've got an outlet pipe coming off the boiler here." Drex said as he pointed to the corresponding components of his machine. "That passes through this valve and down to the inlet of the cylinder. When I open that valve, the steam will go in and push on one side of the cylinder until it can escape. It'll then be channeled over to the other side of the cylinder and push it the other way. Once it comes through the outlet, it travels back into the boiler where it'll help heat up fresh water." "What about all the th-team that'th ethcaping?" Troi asked, gesturing to the light grey wisps that drifted away from the boiler's little stack. "Oh, that's fine. It'll come out where it can. I do have to drain the water out of the cylinder too. It doesn't compress like steam and could cause problems to the system if I don't." Troi grunted in understanding while Drex set his paw on the boiler to feel how hot it was. Satisfied, he reached over and grasped the valve lever between two of his talons. "Now watch this." The red dragon turned the lever 20 degrees, and the single cylinder engine slowly moved as a result. There was another little valve at the outlet for the cylinder. It started to sputter a little before spraying droplets of scolding water onto the cave floor. After a couple cycles, the blow-down valve was closed and Drex flipped the main valve all the way open for a second. The engine was suddenly a blur of motion as its little drive rod zipped back and fourth. "Ok. So you see that wheel there?" the red dragon asked, pointing to a heavy little wheel that slowly stopped spinning. "That's a flywheel. It just helps balance the rotation of the drive axle and keeps the engine from becoming stuck in between strokes." Drex beckoned Troi to come sit next to him now. "Here's what it does. I like this most." The red dragon waved at the left side of the machine this time. "So the drive rod runs a gear which, when this other gear is engaged, turns this spool. There's a piece of fishing line tied between this spool and the throwing arm. Potential energy builds up as the arm is drawn back. Once I've set the break on the spool and disconnected it from the engine, I can then release the break which releases all that potential energy in one kinetic motion. Whatever is in this little cup goes flying across the room at that point." He raised his head up in the air and yelled into the cavern where the family treasure was stored. "Hey Fliz! We're ready!" Moments later, Fliz strode into the main chamber carrying a basket full of coal in her mouth. Vliticus trotted after her levitating some pieces of paper in the air in front of him. A couple pencils and some chalk were clenched in his paw. The blue dragon set her basket down next to Drex while their brother continued out a ways to draw distance markers. "Hi Flith!" Troi said excitedly to her when she had arrived. "Hey. I've got a great idea for a game today. Wanna try?" The black dragon eagerly shook his head yes to Fliz's delight. "I thought you'd say that. What we're gonna do is shoot off pieces of coal from Drex's steam catapult, and you and Vliticus are gonna try to guess where they end up." "They end up on the floor, right?" Drex chimed in suddenly. Fliz mentally face-palmed and shook her head. "They should be thrown about 10 or 15 feet away. My brother will take a couple practice shots so that you two can see how hard each piece will be thrown. We're judging it by where the coal initially strikes the ground. It should leave some kind of black mark on the stone where ever it lands." Troi nodded his understanding, but titled his head to the side confused. "Do we juith-t blurt out our guetheth?" The blue dragon was about to answer, but Vliticus walked over just then and did it for her. "We have those pieces of paper I brought to write on. Fliz wants us to keep our answers in a neat column. Shot one, then shot two below that and so on." "Well let'th get th-tarted." Troi said with excitement. They took a seat out of the way and watched as one piece of coal was lobbed across the room. Moments later, Drex had rewound the spool and loaded another chunk into the catapult. The spool's break lever clicked out of gear and the throwing arm shot forward, hurling the little black mineral through the air. Now that they were attuned to the operation of the catapult, Vliticus and Troi collected their pencils and waited for the first real shot. Vliticus had drawn a little chart on both of their pages so that they could better organize and record the distances. "Now don't cheat off of each other. I want you to make your own determinations, understand?" Fliz instructed them. Once Troi and Vliticus had responded, they shifted their attention back to the catapult and another shot was released. Both dragons watched the coal fly for a moment before simultaneously leaning down and scribbling numbers out on the top row of their charts. Four more shots were sent flying, and each time the dragons would be strictly focused on their own page as they recorded their estimations. The 'game' ended when the little basket next to Drex was empty. Fliz walked over to where the coal had landed, and chalked numbers next to each dirty smudge they had left on the floor. "Ok. Now you can bring your pages over here. Did you bring that tape measure Drex?" The red dragon produced a little brass disc from somewhere beside him. He inserted one end of the tape into a crack on the floor and handed the disc off to his sister. Fliz awkwardly waddled backward as she let the tape unwind. When she got to the first mark, she took a measurement through its center and checked the numbers against her friends' charts. "These are almost identical to the measurements I'm getting. Neither of you were very accurate in guessing inches. That's not really a big problem though." "That wath fun. Can we do thome more?" Troi asked.

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