where is electricity made at a coal-fired power plant
A fossil fuel power station is a power station which burns fossil fuel such as coal, natural gas, or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation. In many countries, such plants provide most of the electrical energy used. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, which then operates an electrical generator. The prime mover may be a steam turbine, a gas turbine or, in small plants, a reciprocating internal combustion engine. All plants use the energy extracted from expanding gas, either steam or combustion gases. Very few MHD generators have been built which directly convert the energy of hot, moving water into electricity. MHD means Magnetohydrodynamics, which is the study of the magnetic properties of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas, liquid metals, salt water and electrolytes.