How do spinning things like wind/water turbines or those spin to charge flash lights make electricity by just spinning?
In: Engineering
There are special kinds of fluid pumps out there that work like this: they have a flexible tube that is pressed up against a rotating wheel. This wheel has bumps on it that pinch against the tube. As the wheel spins, the pinch point moves along the tube, effectively squeezing a bit of liquid through the tube like a tube of toothpaste, or yogurt, or those freezie pop treats.
At a very high level, a common electrical generator works in somewhat the same way, except instead of pinching a tube with little nubs the generator “pinches” a wire with magnets, and instead of fluid getting squeezed through a tube, electrons are being “squeezed” through a wire.
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