water wheel
A machine used to convert the energy of running water into useful mechanical power. It consists of a wheel with fixed blades that intercept the flow of water. Water wheels were used in the pre-modern era for grinding grain in gristmills or powering industrial machinery, but they have since been replaced with other forms of power.
The modern equivalent of the water wheel is the water turbine, used to generate power in hydroelectric dams.
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The following tags are aliased to this tag: watermill (learn more).
