What is a Dynamo?
Dynamo is a word that used to simply mean an electric generator, but today a dynamo refers to a generator which produces direct current (DC) using a commutator, an electrical switch that generates electricity from the force of a rotating rod. Like any other generator, the purpose of a dynamo is to produce electricity from mechanical power. The source of the mechanical power could be a dam, windmill, or a coal or oil-burning power plant, with the latter being most common. Dynamos were quickly replaced by other electrical generators because of the advantages of alternating current (AC), inefficiencies of the commutator, and solid state methods for converting AC into DC power. A dynamo is one of the simplest and earliest electrical generators, and the first used to generate power for industry. The famous inventor Thomas Edison believed that the future of electricity would be based on DC, driven by the dynamo, but it turned out that his eccentric rival, Nikola Tesla, was correct, and that
