this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 187 points 8 hours ago (40 children)

Every damn power plant is a glorified steam engine

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Hydro isn't. Nor is solar photo voltaic, wind, or tidal, but yeah, nearly everything else is. In a combined-cycle natural gas or diesel plant half of the power generated isn't steam power, but the other half is.

[–] imsufferableninja@sh.itjust.works 16 points 7 hours ago (2 children)
[–] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 10 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

aah, but it didn't say steam, it said boiling water.

smaller gas generators based on internal combustion engines don't boil water though, right?

[–] baines@lemmy.cafe 3 points 6 hours ago

boiling just makes the water move, hydro just cheats

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Electromagnetic induction.

Basically electric motor in reverse...instead of electricity powering the motor, the motor powers electricity.

But the trick is in "what spins the motor". In the case if ICE generators, it's usually a pulley off the crankshaft.

Or it could be moving water.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago
[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 2 points 2 hours ago

for ccgt it's more like 2/3 for gas turbine, 1/3 for steam turbine split, even more uneven for diesel/steam because diesel exhaust is much colder

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