The most in-depth video I was able to find regarding the invention of the steam engine spends 15 minutes on the topic. I can safely say that steam, iron, coal and pistons are involved, but I never learned what a piston is (I know they exist and are in engines) in school, so I can’t grok the engine as a whole because of the circular definitions.

I’m sure I could read all about it, but this is something I need to see in action for it to click. And I’m finding myself getting more curious about the tech changes of the Industrial Revolution overall, given the rate of change under way, to better understand the social upheaval.

My middle school American history course essentially spent days on how the cotton gin was fast (but not how it worked), endless sections about textiles, and then interstate railroads sprang from nothing. That’s feeling a bit sparse as a representation of the time.