So how does all of this come together in your home? Let's find out. Circuit Breaker: At Work in Your Home This diagram shows the basic parts and design of a circuit breaker. HowStuffWorks The power distribution grid delivers electricity from a power plant to your house. Inside your hou...
Wind Turbines are rotating machines that can be used directly for grinding or can be used to generate electricity from the kinetic power of the wind. They provide the clean and renewable energy for us of both home and office. Wind Turbines are a great way to save money and make theenvironm...
Electricity lights up our world, but where does it come from? See more nuclear power pictures. Mitchell Funk/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images Humans have an intimate relationship with electricity, to the point that it's virtually impossible to separate your life from it. Sure, you can ...
How does a transformer work?A transformer is based on a very simple fact about electricity: when a fluctuating electric current flows through a wire, it generates a magnetic field (an invisible pattern of magnetism) or "magnetic flux" all around it. The strength of the magnetism (which has ...
As the head and flow increase, so does the electricity generated. The head is usually dependent upon the amount of water in the reservoir. Simple Beginnings Use of hydropower peaked in the mid-20th century, but the idea of using water for power generation goes back thousands of years. A ...
Renewable sources, including solar, wind, and hydro, now produce 25% of America's electricity. But how do solar panels make electricity out of light? Can they be a viable replacement for fossil fuels at scale? In this article, we'll look at how solar power works and what it can—and ...
Without such a standard, many consumers are left wondering if they're spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on products that will wind up obsolete or unusable in a short time. Of course, there's also the question of whether an individual needs all this technology. Is our society really ...
Does hologram technology exist? Holograms were invented in 1947 by Dennis Gabor, while he was trying to devise a method to improve the resolution and quality of electron microscopes. The lasers that are essential to create and display holograms, however, were invented in 1960. What is a hologra...
From start to finish, the process of generating electricity from wind -- and delivering that electricity to people who need it -- looks something like this: Turbine Aerodynamics Unlike the old-fashioned Dutch windmill design, which relied mostly on the wind's force to push the blades into moti...
If one of the prongs or the wires inside them becomes dislodged, electricity won't flow as efficiently through the device. This misdirected current could, at times, ruin appliances or may even shock the user because it is no longer grounded. Lots More Information Related Articles How Does a...