Living out in west Texas, we have hundreds of wind turbines on the horizon in any given direction. Some days (like today) you could drop a feather straight down without it moving, however all the turbines are spinning. Isn’t that counterproductive?
In: Engineering
If they are spinning there is wind. The turbines are purposely built to be quite tall NOT only so you can put bigger blades on them. The Earth itself causes friction with air moving over it aka wind. As a result wind speeds are lower close to the ground than they are higher up where the influence with friction against the ground is much smaller. It may be wind still on ground level, that doesn’t mean it is also wind still at the height the blades of the turbine are at.
Wind at ground level is rarely the same as the wind above ground – there’s nearly always some wind, even if you happen to think it’s pretty still.
I’m looking out of my window right now, and small branches in the trees are pretty much stationary at ground level, but only a short way up the tree the higher branches are in motion – it’s the same with a wind turbine.
Wind can also be fairly localised, especially at ground level where you’ve got a good chance of being sheltered even if you don’t realise that you are.
Well I would say comparing a feather drop to the turbine is not the same thing.
Let’s first start with there is always wind. Because the earth is spinning you automatically have wind because the air is moving at a different rate than the ground.
But that does not mean the air is moving uniformly at different altitudes. Turbines from the ground to the tip of the highest blade can be close to 400 ft tall. The higher up you are the more wind there is. It’s also one of the reasons why on a not windy day, if you look at a tall building with a flag on top, you will see it sway from wind even though you don’t feel it.
They will not spin without wind, but even when it seems perfectly calm at ground level there can be a noticeable breeze once you get up above the surface layer. Turbines are very well balanced and need only a very light breeze to rotate, and it’s very rare to have absolutely no air movement at significant heights above the ground.
Hi. There may not be appreciable wind at ground level at the same time there would be a 10-15 knot breeze that would spin the turbine.
There is also a lot of momentum with those turbines that will keep them spinning for hours to dissipate the energy if the wind is actually zero. They have bearings inside the “guts” of the windmill that assists the spinning by reducing the friction that normal windmills do not have.
If the wind turbines spin there is wind.
It might not be a lot where you are or at ground level in general but there is enough where they are else they would be stationary. In general wind increase when you get away from the ground.
Are you dropping that feather from two hundred feet up? That’s how high those turbines are mounted. That could be it. In places with tall trees you’ll notice the treetops swaying even if you don’t feel any wind on the ground.
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