Electric Motors and Generators

A young reader hopes to replace wind turbines with an alternate source of energy.  He writes:  these generators are not very large to supply electricity to an ordinary home.  Now the other power source: an electric motor.

You can use a generator to power your house, and you can provide the energy for the generator with a motor, but you will have to provide electrical energy from another source to run the motor.

If you doubt this, try it at home. Go to the hardware store, and get a small electric motor and a small generator.  Try to power the generator with the motor while you’re using the generator to power the motor.

This a good exercise.  Does it work?  If not, why not?  Please let me know what you find.