where do the electrons in electricity come from and how does that not wreck up other atoms that I assume need those electrons

Question

For example, I was listening to a podcast about hydropower, and the mentioned that the water current does what it does, and shakes these electrons free and that creates electricity, but do the h2o molecules lose an electron, or are there just a ton of free roaming electrons out I’m the world. I have no clue how it all works, do maybe my assumptions are all wrong, Thanks in advance!

In: Other

Answer 1

No electrons in H2O molecules get moved anywhere. Water turns turbines (in hydro and pretty much all but solar plants); turbines move rotors of conducting materials (say copper wire) inside a magnetic field. This in turn shakes the electrons in the wires one way and the other; the rotors are connected to the transmission wire and that little movement is the electricity we consume.