MAKING ELECTRIC POWER: Generating Power

The large generator at a power plant works in much the same way. Giant electromagnets create a magnetic field, causing electrons to move inside wire loops. This current delivers electric power to our homes.

An Easy Way to Understand Power Generation

Think of a toy pinwheel. When you blow on it, the blades move. Now think of it another way. Put a teapot on the stove. Boil water in it. After a while, steam will come out of the teapot. If you put a pinwheel in the path of that steam, what will happen? The pinwheel's blades will move!

Imagine if, in the middle of the pinwheel, you had a round stick, a shaft. When the pinwheel goes around, the shaft will go around. Now let's glue a wire coil on the end of that stick or shaft. When the steam hits the pinwheel, the pinwheel moves and the shaft with the wire coil spins and spins.

Now let's take two magnets and place them on either side of the spinning wire coil. The spinning wire coil inside the magnetic field will create an electric current. As long as the wire is turning between the magnets, electrons will move down the wires.

NEXT: Turbines & Boilers