What is a generated?

Answer 1

A generator is an electrical machine that produces electricity. It must be turned by a prime mover that can be an internal combustion engine (driven, usually, by diesel oil or gasoline), or it can be a turbine, driven either by superheated steam or by water falling from a reservoir. (The latter is known as "hydro-electric power generation.")

Before today's solid-state voltage inverters were invented, electric motors were often used to drive generators to produce a different type of electrical power (for example, to produce dc power from an ac service or to produce 3-phase ac power from a single-phase ac service).

For more information, see the answers to the Related Questions shown below.
In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an external circuit. The source of mechanical energy may vary widely from a hand crank to an internal combustion engine. Generators provide nearly all of the power for electric power grids.

The reverse conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy is done by an electric motor, and motors and generators have many similarities. Many motors can be mechanically driven to generate electricity and frequently make acceptable generators.