I just saw a little blurb that said some major hydroelectric dam produced 11,000 volts of electricity.

Ok then. I produce 11,000 volts of electricity when I shock someone after dragging my feet across the carpet.

That’s like saying, “My car produces a foot of speed.” It’s somehow related but completely unhinged.

Anyway, if you convert volt amperes into megawatts, that’s about 0.011 megawatts. Assuming no loss along the way (and assuming they are talking AC), that could power…a grand total of 11 houses. The average house uses about 1kw at any given time.

I assume the person meant 11 megawatts, which is ok for a hydro plant. The really big ones, though, are much larger. The Grand Coulee Dam for instance produces ~7gw (gigawatts) of power.

This is why humanities people need some science classes, ya’ll.