Generating electricity -- putting it into motion -- and to work
Does this help make the point clear? An electrical current is set in motion by the turning of a generator, in our case a coil of wire surrounding a horseshoe magnet. You can use steam to turn the generator or use the power of falling water, like that at a dam. By comparison, an electric motor, such as in a coffee grinder, a food blender, or water pump, turns electrical energy into mechanical energy. Understand the difference? This is magnetism put to work.
"In a generator, mechanical energy is changed into electrical energy. In addition to steam, falling water and atomic energy are other elements that may be used to move a generator."
From The How and Why Wonder Book of Electricity, Grosset and Dunlap, Inc., Jerome J. Notkin, Ed., illustrated by Robert Patterson and Charles Benard. (1960)
