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Wind Energy A turbine is machine that spins arounds catching energy that's passing by. The huge rotor blades (propellers) on the front of a wind turbine are the "turbine" part. As wind passes by, the kinetic energy (energy of movement) it contains makes the blades spin around (usually quite slowly). The blades have a special curved shape so they capture as much energy from the wind as possible. Although we talk about "wind turbines," the turbine is only one of the three main parts inside these giant machines. The second part is a gearbox whose gears convert the slow speed of the spinning blades into higher-speed rotary motion—turning the drive shaft quickly enough to power the electricity generator. The generator is the third main part of a turbine and it's exactly like an enormous, scaled-up version of the dynamo (an electric generator, especially for direct current) on a bicycle. When you ride a bicycle, the dynamo touching the back wheel spins around and generates enough electricity to make a lamp light up. The same thing happens in a wind turbine, only the "dynamo" generator is driven by the turbine's rotor blades instead of by a bicycle wheel. How A Wind Turbine Works
Wind blows toward the turbine's rotor blades.
The rotors spin around slowly, capturing some of the kinetic energy from the wind, and turning the central drive shaft that supports them.
The rotor blades can swivel on the hub at the front so they meet the wind at the best angle for harvesting energy.
Inside the nacelle (the main body of the turbine sitting on top of the tower and behind the blades), the gearbox converts the low-speed rotation of the drive shaft (about 16 revolutions per minute, rpm) into high-speed (1600 rpm) rotation fast enough to drive the generator efficiently.
The generator, immediately behind the gearbox, takes kinetic energy from the spinning drive shaft and turns it into electrical energy.
Anemometers (wind-speed monitors)

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