Andy's Wordshop

Back to turbogenerators. This does not mean "generators which have extra added, hardly controllable power". It means "generators which are driven by turbines", and the word turbine (say /TŐ-bajn) comes from the Latin word for a spinning-top (Slovak "vlk" (?) or Czech "káča", as a child's toy). You have an axle ("os") with a flywheel ("zotrvačník") at one end and a set of vanes ("lopatky") at the other.
A jet of water or steam acts on the vanes, spinning them round, the axle rotates and drives a generator which makes electricity, like an electric motor working the other way round (that's physics - don't ask me for details). The idea of spinning round is also associated with storms (or cyclones) and we get the word "turbulence", the disturbed air which can make flying an unpleasant experience.