Mill (grinding) facts for kids

For other uses see Mill (disambiguation)

Rembrandt van Rijn

A grinding mill is a tool that breaks solid materials into smaller pieces. Think of it like a machine that crushes or grinds things. There are many kinds of grinding mills, and they can process all sorts of materials.

Small mills can be used by hand, such as a mortar and pestle for spices or a pepper grinder. In the past, large grinding mills often used the power of working animals, wind (windmill), or water (watermill). Today, most big grinding mills run on electricity.

How Grinding Mills Work

Grinding mills change solid materials in a few ways. They can make the pieces smaller, change their shape, or even crush them into a fine powder. This process is important for many reasons, like making food or preparing materials for building.

Hand-Powered Mills

hand mill for grinding coffee

For grinding small amounts of food, like spices or grain for cooking, people often use hand-powered tools. A mortar and pestle is a classic example, where you crush ingredients by hand. Pepper grinders are another common hand mill.

Today, many homes also have electric-powered grinding mills. These kitchen appliances use a metal blade to quickly grind food into small pieces. They are great for grinding nuts or coffee beans.

Grain Mills

For thousands of years, people have used grain mills to turn grains like wheat or corn into flour. Early grain mills were powered by animals such as oxen or horses. Later, people built windmills, which used the force of the wind, or watermills, which used the power of running water from a stream or river.

In modern times, most large grain mills are powered by electricity. They can produce huge amounts of flour much faster than older methods.

Images for kids

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  A windmill uses large sails to turn heavy stone grinding surfaces, making flour from grains.

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  A watermill uses the force of running water to turn heavy stone grinding surfaces.

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  A treadmill uses the power of a working animal to turn the grinding stones.

See also

In Spanish: Molino para niños

Images for kids

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  Operation of a ball mill

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  Principle of SAG Mill operation

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  Table top hammer mill

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  A windmill in Kuremaa, Jõgeva County, Estonia

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  A watermill in Kuusamo, North Ostrobothnia, Finland