The reservoir (not reservior! ) of a dam is the higher part of the river. It is blocked by the dam so that the dam can control when to let go of the water to produce electricity.

The intake is where water is taken into the dam. Pretty simple, right?

The gate opens to let water into the dam. Then the dam will be able to produce electricity.

The picture is the penstock for Ohakuri Dam in New Zealand. The penstock is the tube that allows water to flow to the turbine in the powerhouse.

The powerhouse is where the electrical energy is produced. It contains the turbine and the generator. The turbine spins when water flows through, and the generator produces electricity from the spinning motion of the turbine. Then some powerlines take the electricity and plug it into the transformer.

The outflow is where the water can carry on their journey to the sea after doing humans a huge favour.

The purpose of the transformer is to change the voltage of the produced electricity to a usable voltage.

Everyone know what powerlines do. They carry the produced, transformed electricity to the houses of everyone.

The buttons on the picture corresponds to the components of the dam. Click the buttons to find out more about the component.