Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Can someone help me out a bit with my project?

"Does the length of a windmill's blades affect the amount of energy it creates?"

=]

Hi,

This is really a physical sciences question, so I moved your post to the correct forum. The experts here should be able to help you .

Hi gmkgiraffe,
Welcome to the Ask an Expert forum. Can you tell us more about your project and give more detail about what sort of help you need? Have you completed your literature review? Experimental design? Data interpretation?
I'm looking forward to hearing more about your project.
Thanks,
Chris

Hi gmkgiraffe,
Windmill blades can be thought of as airplane wings. The longer the airplane wing the more force it will produce. It is the conversion of wind energy into electrical energy that I think you are interested in finding fact upon. The wind energy is converted into rotational energy of the blade by the aerodynamic characteristics of the blade pretending to be an airplane wing. The more force produced by the blade pretending to be an airplane wing, the more energy will be converted. So the longer the blade length, the more the energy it will create. Now the translation of this energy to useful energy will be affected by the aerodynamic characteristics of the blade as it is flying around the circle made by the windmill.
Have Fun,
John

Hi gmkgiraffe,

Looks like someone has already done this project and published it:
http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj ... ylynF.html

You might want to:
- incorporate this project in your project, with proper acknowledgement
- look for ways to enhance this project

Additional resources can be found by supplying:
"Does the length of a windmill's blades affect the amount of energy it creates?"
to answers.com