Headings Electromagnetism Induced Current Search Questions 
Power
stations convert a primary energy resource into electrical energy.
Electrical energy is called a secondary
energy source.
Electricity is a very useful
form of energy because
it can be used to do so many different
things
and it is easily transmitted
over long distances.
The primary energy
resources may be non-renewable, such
as
fossil fuels
or nuclear
power,
or renewable, such as
hydroelectric,
tidal,
wave, wind, solar, geothermal and
biomass.
Non-renewable means
that there is only a certain amount of
the resource.
Once it is used up, it cannot be replaced.
Renewable means that the resource will not run out.
Fossil
fuels, nuclear power, geothermal
energy and biomass
are all used to boil water to make steam
which turns a turbine.
When natural gas is used as
the fossil fuel,
some power stations don't boil water to make steam
but directly use the hot burnt gases
to turn a turbine.
A turbine has a number
of blades, like the blades of a windmill,
which rotate when a liquid or gas
(steam) is forced through it under
pressure.
Large cooling towers condense the steam
back into water
which is recycled, reheated and turned back into steam.
The rotating
turbine is connected to a generator
which produces alternating current
electricity.
A bigger generator producing more
electricity
uses more primary fuel per second.
This electricity is then put through a
step up transformer
and transmitted across the National
Grid.
Hydroelectric and tidal
power use falling water to turn
the turbines.
Wind power uses modern windmills (called wind turbines)
to turn small generators.
Solar power generates electricity directly from sunlight.
The following pages give the
advantages
and disadvantages of these
processes.
We can not rely on
just one way of generating
electricity.
To make sure that we have enough electricity all
the time we need it
we must use a variety of ways to generate
electricity.
Headings Electromagnetism Induced Current Search Questions
gcsescience.com Contents Index Quizzes gcsescience.com
Copyright © 2011 Dr. Colin France. All Rights Reserved.