The Three Gorges Dam in China is so powerful that it makes as much electricity as 15 large nuclear power plants combined.

The Three Gorges Dam is a 175-meter tall wall that holds back a massive amount of water. When this water is released, it falls through large pipes called penstocks with incredible force. This falling water hits the blades of 32 giant turbines, making them spin at 75 rotations per minute.Each turbine is connected to a generator. Inside the generator, huge magnets spin around coils of copper wire. This movement creates a flow of electricity through a process called electromagnetic induction. This is the same basic science used in most power plants, but on a much larger scale.The dam can produce 22,500 megawatts of power at its peak. However, the amount of electricity it makes changes depending on how much rain falls and how high the river is. Because of this, it has a 'capacity factor' of about 56%.In a record-breaking year like 2020, the dam produced 111.8 terawatt-hours of energy. To get that much power from nuclear energy, you would need about 12 to 15 large reactors running at full speed. By using water instead of coal, the dam prevents millions of tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.