Water turbine took about one hundred years. Development occurred during the Industrial revolution, using scientific principles and methods. They also made extensive use of new materials and manufacturing methods developed at the time. The word turbine was introduced by the French engineer Claude Burdin in the early 19th century and is derived from the Greek word "τύρβη" for "whirling" or a "vortex". The main difference between early water turbines and water wheels is a swirl component of the water which passes energy to a spinning rotor. This additional component of motion allowed the turbine to be smaller than a water wheel of
Gas turbine engineering tools, such as a metal lathe. Evolved from piston engine turbochargers, aircraft APUs or small jet engines, microturbines are 25 to 500 kilowatt turbines the size of a refrigerator. Microturbines have around 15% efficiencies without a recuperator, 20 to 30% with one and they can reach 85% combined thermal-electrical efficiency in cogeneration. Most gas turbines are internal combustion engines but it is also possible to manufacture an external combustion gas turbine which is, effectively, a turbine version of a hot air engine. Those systems are usually indicated as EFGT (Externally Fired Gas Turbine) or IFGT (Indirectly Fired Gas Turbine).