Photo by V. Miller
May 17, 2006
Wind Turbines and Blade Size
Blowin' in the Wind
Jacob Perry, 11, Livingston, Mont.
Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2005
Project background: With a lot of wind power evident in his state, Jacob developed an interest in turbines. He hypothesized that longer blades would turn a turbine faster, and therefore produce more electricity, than shorter blades would.
Tactics and results: Jacob built a wind turbine with magnets on the blades rotating above an induction coil. He made three sets of blades of varying lengths. He tested the performance of his turbine with each of the sets of blades at three wind intensities. He used a hair dryer to simulate the wind.
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| Photo by V. Miller |
Jacob's hypothesis was incorrect: The longest blade was not the most efficient of the three. Jacob discovered that the effectiveness of the blades depended on wind intensity. At high wind intensity, the shortest blade performed best; at lower wind intensity, the medium-size blade performed best. Jacob thought that the large blade's higher wind resistance might account for his results.
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