Alternative Forms of Energy

*Thermal power plant: Do you know that burning of some substances can produce steam which can rotate turbines at such a speed that we can produce electricity? Such a substance is coal. Thus the thermal power plant is all about just burning of coal. It is very simple. A large amount of coal is burnt profusely to a very high temperature. It produces steam with great force which rotates turbines that are placed just above the burning coal. Again you will wonder how mere steam can rotate heavy iron turbines. The answer is simple. Have you seen a kettle boiling? Have you seen how forcefully steam gushes out of the snout? Yes this is the answer. Coal is a very combustible (can easily catch fire) substance that tea or water. Eventually more steam gushes out with greater force.

*Nuclear reactors: Some metals radio-active like Uranium, thorium, radium etc. are the main components in the nuclear reactor. The method is very simple again. In a room with very thick walls and well-built ones too, a small piece of this metal is heated. The atoms in this metal react very fast and build-up like bacteria multiplying and it produces an enormous amount of energy. This is converted to electricity as high as 33,000 volts!!! So imagine the amount of energy released with such a little piece of small metal. The steam released from this metal is called- Super heated steam. It is a very simple term and way of producing electricity and a very profitable as well as a dangerous one too. Because the radioactive metal explodes with a great sound as well as force with heat. So, they are done in a controlled manner producing only the required amount of energy by the usage of graphite rods.