This is one of the first articles I've read in Steemit. This idea came from @donkeypong (thank you Tom), which made me understood the most important terms in Steemit - STEEM, STEEM POWER, and STEEM DOLLARS in a fun way.

During our early days, these are the important things to understand - aside from understanding that Steemit is an incentivized social media blogging platform. Why? because these are our earnings, which talks about our income. Everyone must understand these three and how do they differ. You must, because withdrawal of earnings takes a little effort and understanding its technical side. Questions like How do I get paid?, How are they different and why do I need to know them?, and When will I get paid?, are understandable questions and we will tackle them one by one, with PowerPlant technology as our basis of analysis.

What Power's Steemit?

The block chain performs the transaction, same as the gear. Witnesses do their job to verify transaction - they keep it honest. Developers are the ones who enable a special type - Social media platform that rewards users for posting quality contents. We, the users provide valuable content that gives the main brand of Steemit.

Let's Heat-Up the Process

Like a normal Steam Powerplant, heating is the key factor in producing Steem. Aww, I mean STEAM - sorry I'm a bit excited! Let us first understand the concept of a Steam Powerplant.

Steam Powerplant

A steam power plant requires water (H20), plus a heat source. Water is the raw material, and that heat source could be solar (Sun), geothermal (Earth), gas, nuclear, or could be using coal.

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Water is being heated by the heat source. As the word Steam describes, it is the by product of the process. The finished product would be the electricity, which will then be distributed for power consumption. Water is pulled by the use of pump, which will send the water to the boiler, which will will then heat it into steam, and then the steam powers the turbine. As a result, it generates electricity with the help of the generator.

Welcome to Steemit Powerplant

Let's take a look on how Steemit Powerplant works! As mentioned before, the analogy is almost the same as a Powerplant and the words STEEM & STEAM are coincidentally almost the similar.

If you've noticed, I have just replaced the Powerplant terms into Steemit terms.

Content (water) is the main brand of Steemit social media platform. It is the raw material of this running business. Similar to water, the key component that circulates through a conventional steam power plant. Contents are always present in the chain, with lots of varieties of information, and regeneration as authors/content creators contributes fresh and informative ideas with their written styles of blogs, photographs, art, music, dance, and many more.
The Blockchain drives like the pump of a conventional powerplant shown above. With it responsible in spinning out new blocks, that it generates tons of new data that grows continuously, and that it verifies transactions and posts. The blockchain always functions, 24/7 with no day-off!
Steem Power (SP)operates as the turbine of the system. It superheats content (upvotes), and will later produce Steems. Steem Power gives you a very strong voting influence, which in other term as upvote value. The value of your upvotes depends on the amount of your Steem Power (though you have to consider its voting power). It gives you virtual stake (investment) for the future growth of Steemit and its economy. This is rewarded for your hardwork on creating quality contents. The only way to earn in Steemit is by your created contents, and curation from your comments.
Steem Dollars/Steem-Backed Dollars (SBD) are US-pegged currency tokens and are being regulated and maintained to be approximately equal to $1.00. Steem Dollars functions like a turbine that spuns by Steam Power in a conventional power plant. Steem Dollars are directly withdrawable and you can spend and trade this into the virtual economy. You can also hold it and accumulat % APR. Steem Dollars are the turbines which produces Steen as a the final product.

and Finally :

Steem, the final product of the Power Plant. The same as electricity which will then be distributed to the consumers. It is a liquid currency (digital currency) that only exists virtually. As I've mentioned, this is the final product and step before you get the fruit of your labor. Though it functions the same now as Steem dollars, you can transfer them both, sell it in exchanges, bridges, gateways, or get real money out from it. If you want to invest more in Steemit, as you want to increase your influence - you can directly convert it into Steem Power. Or your Steem Power can be converted to Steem by the process of Powering Down. You can also power-up your posts, which means you receive 100% in Steem Power (SP) different form the default 50/50 reward payout (50% SBD & 50% Steem).

The by-product is always like smoke. Don't worry it will come back and become water again. From evaporation, condensation, up to precipitation.

Lots of Hope for Steem

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Because of its zero transaction fees and a unique kind of cryptocurrency, many expected Steem to grow more than 3 dollars. I believe in the potential in Steemit and it helped me so much in many ways. I love the community, I love the site, I love how it works and I love the way I earn.

Steemit has a perfect analogy of a Powerplant, it follows the process - and that it is continuously growing!

I appreciate your time and effort. Hope I made you happy today :)

Power Plant Analogy : The best way to Explain Steem, Steem Dollars, and Steem Power.