Steam turbines are fueled by____________.

• A. Fossil and nuclear
• B. Solar and wind
• C. Hydro and geothermal
• D. Compressed air and internal combustion engine

Answer: (A)

Steam turbines rely on high-pressure steam created by heating water in a boiler. The heat source for that steam is what the turbine is “fueled” by. In most power plants, the heat comes from burning fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) or from a nuclear reactor, where nuclear heat is used to generate the steam. That’s why fossil and nuclear are the correct sources for driving steam turbines—their heat generation is what produces the steam that powers the turbine.

Other options don’t fit as reliably. Wind and solar energy don’t heat water in a boiler to produce steam in the same way; wind drives turbines directly, and solar can only produce steam in specific solar-thermal setups, not in the standard sense of fueling a steam-driven generator. Hydro uses moving water to turn turbines without steam, and geothermal can produce steam but isn’t the typical fuel pairing described here.