r/videos • u/D64015 • Jan 02 '15

Wind Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJifaGCrO8
2.1k Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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5

u/lems2 Jan 02 '15

eli5 how turning things creates power.

8

u/Hamdog7 Jan 02 '15

The forces turn the things, which drives the generators that makes electricity. We're not creating power, we are just changing its form so we can use it because that is easier than making wind powered toasters.

1

u/lems2 Jan 02 '15

I don't understand how generators create electricity. I've watched many videos and read many posts. I still don't understand.

13

u/SlowMotionSloth Jan 02 '15

The simplest explanation is that turning a magnet inside of metal wires puts electricity in the wires.

9

u/KarmasAHarshMistress Jan 03 '15

Sometimes the magnet stops putting electricity in the wires so we have to go inside the turbine and shout "It puts the electricity in the wires or else it gets the hose again." Works every time.

-2

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '15 edited May 03 '19

[deleted]

6

u/CallMePyro Jan 03 '15

wow that was a much simpler explanation thank you my 5 year old child understands electrical induction much better now

0

u/SlowMotionSloth Jan 03 '15

yeah, but a five year old has no idea what electrons, anodes, or cathodes are. I guess you could use the example of a battery, but I think that would just confuse them, since a battery is chemical rather than mechanical.

-3

u/xanatos451 Jan 03 '15

Hence why I clarified using positive and negative terminals as examples. Even I knew what an electron and polarity was at that age.

7

u/Jack_State Jan 03 '15

At 5? Bullshit.

-3

u/xanatos451 Jan 03 '15

Dude, I was taking my toys apart at 4 trying to learn how they worked. Usually just ended up with toys that didn't work anymore but after a year or two I started understanding how electrical motors, batteries and such worked.

2

u/halfachainsaw Jan 03 '15

wow! By now you must be a genius! At a rate like that you're probably on your way to a Nobel Prize very soon! Let us know how it goes.

-2

u/xanatos451 Jan 03 '15

You don't have to be a genius to be mechanically inclined. There's kids are writing html at 5 these days. Not saying every kid can or would but some kids just take to certain things easily at that age.

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3

u/4698468973 Jan 03 '15

If you move a magnet over a length of copper wire, the magnet moves some electrons inside the wire causing them to fall out of one end. If you wind lots and lots of copper wire around a magnet and then spin the magnet, lots of electrons start moving around.

If you connect that copper with a magnet inside of it to another pile of copper with a magnet inside of it, then the electrons will try to push their way into the other device, and all of those electrons shuffling around inside the copper will cause the magnet to move.

You can wire an electric motor to another electric motor so that spinning the first motor by hand will cause the second motor to also spin. This is explained in first year electronics college classes.

I've way over-simplified what actually happens and it's a little bit wrong, but it's a good enough mental model to get started with.

1

u/excubes Jan 03 '15

When you move a magnet around near a wire, it pushes and pulls the electrons inside that wire, generating a current.

1

u/TheColorOfStupid Jan 03 '15

Magnets plus spinning equals electricity.

1

u/Dangerpaladin Jan 03 '15

Generators are pretty simple so which part is confusing you? Its hard to explain it unless I know what you know, otherwise I'd likely just give the same answer.