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Showing posts from August, 2010

How Gas Turbine Engines Work

Tim Graham/ Getty Images Jet engines on the assembly line. See more pictures of flight . Whe­n you go to an airport and see the commercial jets there, you can't help but notice the huge ­engines that power them. Most commercial jets are powered by turbofan engines, and turbofans are one example of a general class of engines called gas turbine engines. You may have never heard of gas turbine engines, but they are used in all kinds of un­expected places. For example, many of the helicopters you see, a lot of s­maller power plants and even the M-1 Tank use gas turbines. In this article, we will look at gas turbine engines to see what makes them tick!