In the next few chapters, we'll learn about the various resources that are used to make the heat to produce electricity. Most power plants are big boilers that burn a fuel to make heat. That heat energy is used to boil water to make steam. The steam is fed under high pressure to a turbine. The turbine spins and its shaft is connected to a turbogenerator that changes the mechanical spinning energy into electricity.
Lets look at a cross section of a power plant.
In most boilers, wood, coal, oil or natural gas is burned to make heat. Above that hot fire is a series of pipes with water running through them. The heat energy is conducted into the metal pipes, heating the water until it boils into steam. Water boils into steam at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius. The turbine has many blades that look like the blades of a fan.