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Stirling engine

If you place the engine on some hot surface (it could be a glass with hot water or even your hand) and wait for about half a minute, the propeller will start turning. Once it has been put in motion the propeller will go on nearly forever.

It is clear that this engine runs using the temperature difference. The bottom surface has to have different temperature than the top one. In this way, one surface provides heat and the other is the receiver (radiator). The engine changes some of the heat provided from the outside into mechanical energy. The engine works quite well if you put it on a hot glass of water as well as on a block of ice. The only thing that changes is the direction of heat flow.

This strikingly simple engine was developed in 1816 by a Scottish clergyman, Rev. Robert Stirling. It was supposed to be an alternative for the existing steam engines which often failed and exploded. In contrast to other engines, it runs on a small temperature difference.