How Electricity Is Made

Have you ever wondered where electricity comes from? You might be surprised to learn that it comes from magnets!

In the early 1800s, Michael Faraday discovered “electromagnetic induction” – the scientific way of saying that if he moved a magnet through a loop of wire, the wire would become electrified.
In 1882, Thomas Edison opened the first full-scale power plant in New York City. Edison’s electric generator was a bigger version of Faraday’s basic experiment – a big magnet rotates around a wire to produce an electric current.

Today’s power plants are bigger and controlled by computers, but the basic process is still the same as it was nearly 120 years ago.

Coal is dug up and sent on trains and boats.	The trains and boats deliver the coal to the power plant.	The coal is burned to heat water to make steam.	Inside the generator, the steam spins a big fan called a turbine.

The spinning turbine rotates a big magnet around a length of wire, creating a magnetic field that electrifies the wire. The electric current flows through the wire and is pushed out through high-voltage transformers.

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