When you turn on the office lights with the flip of a switch, you can thank a magnet. Or, to be more accurate, a whole lot of magnets. That’s because the electricity powering those lights is being created at a power plant that uses a series of magnets to generate electricity. Of course, magnets don’t generate electricity on their own. In fact, many processes need to happen, and many pieces of machinery are needed, before an electrical current is created and carried to your business.
Creating Electricity with Magnets
To get electrical energy, you first need to harness mechanical energy. At many power plants across the country, that means starting with a form of thermal energy (often coal, gas, or nuclear energy). Using these fuel sources, the power plants heat up water to create steam. At high temperatures and under extreme pressure, the steam turns enormous turbines. It’s also possible to spin the turbines using a different form of energy, like wind or rushing water from a nearby river. Once the turbines are moving, they either spin magnets around coils of wire or coils of wire around magnets—either setup is possible. This movement is where the electricity is generated. Here’s how it works: Some metals, like copper and aluminum, have relatively loose electrons. Magnetic fields are capable of pushing and pulling these electrons. When magnets move around coils of wire, the electrons in the wires are excited into action and travel from one atom to the next, creating an electrical current. However, power plants typically don’t rely on rare earth magnets like neodymium or samarium-cobalt. Instead, they make their own magnetic fields with solenoids. A solenoid is typically an iron core wrapped in copper or aluminum wire. When energized, even a small solenoid can create an incredibly strong magnetic field—one even more powerful than a neodymium magnet of the same size. With a stronger magnetic field, power plants are capable of making more electricity, especially when they increase the speed of the turbines or the size of the wire coils.
Getting to Homes and Offices
Once an electrical current is created, it travels through transformers, where the voltage is increased so the electricity can travel over long distances. From there, the electrical charge travels across transmission lines that can stretch for hundreds of miles. These transmission lines lead to substations, where the voltage is lowered from tens of thousands of volts. The electricity then travels along power lines to distribution transformers, which step the voltage down again. The voltage is now at an appropriate level for most houses and offices, 120/240 volts or 120/208 volts.
Magnets with Apex
Though most power plants prefer solenoids for generating magnetic fields, wind mills often use powerful rare earth magnets—the same kind you can use around the office, in the workshop, or in the classroom. Check out Apex Magnet’s wide selection of rare earth magnets to see how we can help your business grow in efficiency or create endless educational fun.
