page_title: Electricity
section_title: Generating electrical energy
hierarchical_section_title: Electricity / Generating electrical energy
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kernkraftwerk in Cattenom, Frankreich English: Nuclear power plant in Cattenom, France Français&#160;: La centrale nucléaire française de Cattenom Bân-lâm-gú: Tī Huat-kok Cattenom ê hi̍k/hu̍t-lîng huat-tiān-tshiúnn. 佇法國卡特農(Cattenom)的核能發電廠。 Српски / srpski: Нуклеарна електрана у Катеному, Француска
context_page_description: Electricity is the presence and flow of electric charge. Using electricity we can transfer energy in ways that allow us to do simple chores. Its best-known form is the flow of electrons through conductors such as copper wires.
  The word "electricity" is sometimes used to mean "electrical energy". They are not the same thing: electricity is a transmission medium for electrical energy, like sea water is a transmission medium for wave energy. An item which allows electricity to move through it is called a conductor. Copper wires and other metal items are good conductors, allowing electricity to move through them and transmit electrical energy. Plastic is a bad conductor and does not allow much electricity to move through it so it will stop the transmission of electrical energy.
  Transmission of electrical energy can happen naturally, or be made by people. It can be used to power machines and electrical devices. When electrical charges are not moving, electricity is called static electricity. When the charges are moving they are an electric current, sometimes called 'dynamic electricity'.
context_section_description: Electrical energy is mostly generated in places called power stations.  Most power stations use heat to boil water into steam which turns a steam engine.  The steam engine's turbine turns a machine called a 'generator'.  Coiled wires inside the generator are made to spin in a magnetic field. This causes electricity to flow through the wires, carrying electrical energy. This process is called  electromagnetic induction. Michael Faraday discovered how to do this. 
  There are many sources of heat which can be used to generate electrical energy. Heat sources can be classified into two types: renewable energy resources in which the supply of heat energy never runs out and non-renewable energy resources in which the supply will be eventually used up. 
  Sometimes a natural flow, such as wind power or water power, can be used directly to turn a generator so no heat is needed.
caption: Electrical energy is made in power stations.
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