PowerPoint for students aged 12-18 years old. Goals: 1) Define what an Electric Generator is 2) Explore the different ways an Electric Generator is made to spin. 3) Identify the different fuels used in electricity generation.

2. How Electricity
Is Generated
Introduction

3. GOALS
1) Define what an Electric Generator is
2) Explore the different ways an Electric Generator is made to spin
3) Identify the different fuels used in electricity generation
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4. PRE-TEST
QUESTION TO STUDENTS
What year (roughly) was electricity generation discovered?
(doesn’t matter if its right or wrong for now, just say whatever comes to mind)
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1. Discuss it in pairs
2. Write down your answer in your book
3. Share it with the teacher in a whole class discussion

5. PRE-TEST
QUESTION TO STUDENTS
What year (roughly) was electricity generation discovered?
H o w e l e c t r i c i t y i s g e n e r a t e d
Answer:
Throughout the 1880’s, electric street lighting began to appear in major
New York streets.
By the late 1890’s, electricity was established in most major western cities,
and throughout the 20th century it spread to the remoter towns and
villages.
By the late 1930’s electricity was widely established in the the USA
and Europe.

6. GENERATING ELECTRICITY
Electricity is generated with a machine called an ‘Electric Generator’.
A real electric generator
may look like this:
Larger ones look like this:
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7. GENERATING ELECTRICITY
Electric generators are actually pretty simple.
You do not have to know EXACTLY how they work right now…
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8. GENERATING ELECTRICITY
All that you need to know is:
if you spin them,
they start producing electricity.
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9. GENERATING ELECTRICITY
The question is:How do you get them to spin?
You can spin the electric generator by hand,
or by foot,
but that gets tiring after a while…
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10. GENERATING ELECTRICITY
There are other ways to make the electric generator spin.
Step 1 Attach a fan (‘turbine’) to the electric generator:
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11. GENERATING ELECTRICITY
You could actually stop at this point,
and simply put this arrangement outside in the wind.
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12. WIND TURBINES
The wind spins the fan (‘turbine’).
This spins the electric generator.
Which produces electricity:
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13. WIND TURBINES
That is precisely what Wind Turbines are:
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14. Electric
generator
Fan
(‘turbine’)

15. HYDROELECTRICITY
Instead of spinning the fan (‘turbine’) by wind,
we can also use running water to spin it:
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16. Fan
(‘turbine’)
Electric
generator
Electricity
is produced

17. HYDROELECTRICITY
Upper
dam
Dam wall
Turbine
Electric
generator
Lower
dam
Transmission lines
(power lines)
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18. HYDROELECTRICITY
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Upper
dam
Lower
dam
The Hoover Dam
Hydroelectricity plant
(on the border of Arizona and Nevada, USA)

19. BURNING FUEL
There are other ways to make the electric generator spin.
Step 2 Place a metal container full of water, next to the fan.
Step 3 Place some type of fuel to burn underneath the container.
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20. BURNING FUEL
Step 4 Light the fuel on fire to boil the water.
Step 5 Steam comes out at high pressure.
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21. BURNING FUEL
The steam spins the fan (‘turbine’).
This spins the electric generator.
Which produces electricity.
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22. BURNING FUEL
This leads to the question:
What different fuels can we use to heat the water?
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23. BURNING FUEL
We use different fuels to burn:
Coal
Coal contains a lot of energy,
and burns very hot

24. BURNING FUEL
We use different fuels to burn:
Coal
Gas
Like coal and crude oil,
natural gas is found
underground
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25. BURNING FUEL
We use different fuels to burn:
Coal
Gas
Oil
Crude oil is extracted from underground
It is separated into different fuels
(petrol, diesel, kerosene, etcetera)
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26. BURNING FUEL
All three of these fuels have positive and negative characteristics.
We will explore these later.
Coal
Gas
Oil
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27. NUCLEAR POWER
The final way we can heat the water is as follows:
Instead of burning a fuel UNDERNEATH the metal container,
we put radio-active material INSIDE the container (in the water),
and heat it that way.
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28. NUCLEAR POWER
Here is a lump of Uranium:
It is radio-active, and emits energy.
When radio-active material is placed in water,
the water heats up and boils.
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29. NUCLEAR POWER
This arrangement is how a Nuclear Power Plant
produces electricity. This gas coming
out of the top
Is just steam!
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30. NUCLEAR POWER
It is interesting to note that
• Coal-powered power stations
• Gas-powered power stations
• Oil-powered power stations
• Nuclear power stations
Are all essentially just
steam engines!
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31. SOLAR POWER
The final way electricity can be produced is with solar panels.
Solar panels do NOT use the arrangement we have been looking at:
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32. SOLAR POWER
The simply produce electricity when exposed to sunlight
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33. 1) Explain what an Electric Generator is
2) Explain the different ways an Electric Generator is made to spin
- Wind
- Water
- Boiling water to produce steam
3) Identify the different fuels used in electricity generation
- Coal
- Oil
- Gas
- Radioactive material
SUMMARY
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