Wind Turbine

Turbine · 1887

Year: 1887
Kind: Turbine
Materials: Glass- and carbon-fibre blades, steel towers, neodymium magnets in direct-drive generators, several tonnes of copper.
Efficiency: 45–50 % of the wind's energy — against a hard ceiling of 59.3 %.
Used In: About a tenth of the world's electricity, and rising.
Power Density: Low per unit of swept area, which is why they are enormous: rotors now exceed 200 m.
Cycle: None

How It Works

Three blades, shaped like aircraft wings, generate lift from the wind and turn a shaft; a gearbox or a direct-drive generator turns that into electricity. The tower puts the rotor where the wind is faster and steadier, and the whole nacelle yaws to face it.

Inventors

Albert Betz

Equations

Bernoulli's Equation Faraday's Law of Induction Betz Limit Kinetic Energy Power Reynolds Number Drag Equation

Skills

Mixing and Placing Concrete

Elements

Neodymium Copper Iron Dysprosium

Referenced by

element

Copper Dysprosium Iron Neodymium

equation

Bernoulli's Equation Betz Limit Drag Equation Faraday's Law of Induction Kinetic Energy Power Reynolds Number

researcher

Albert Betz

skill

Mixing and Placing Concrete

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From the Machines database in Notion, last edited 2026-08-18. This page is the row, rendered by the build; nothing on it is written by hand.