Answer to Question #72529 in Quantum Mechanics for Darsh

Question

How does number of blades in a windmill effects its energy and speed? And how many blades should be there in a windmill?

Answer 1

The more blades there are on the wind turbine, the higher the torque (the force that creates the rotation) and the slower the rotation speed (due to the increased resistance caused by the resistance of the wind flow). But the turbines used to generate electricity must run at high speeds and do not really need a lot of torque. Thus, the smaller the number of blades, the better the system is suitable for energy production.
Turbines with one or two blades are actually even more effective. But since they are also lighter and tend to rotate faster, they are also noisier. These designs also require a special tilt, which acts as a kind of shock absorber, which is costly.
On the other hand, the presence of more than three blades causes other problems. First, the additional material necessary for the assembly of blades, increases the cost. And the more blades there are, the easier and thinner they should be. Relatively thin blades are more flexible, which makes them prone to bending and tearing.