Discussion Questions: Wind Story
- Note the parts in this animation that are related to yaw. For ships, yaw means to swerve off course momentarily or temporarily. Pilots routinely talk about the roll, pitch and yaw of a plane. Click on yaw-related parts of the wind turbine to find out why yaw is important to the function of a wind turbine.
- Think about shifting your bicycle from a low gear to a higher gear and how that shift affects your effort and your speed. Then look at the gear box in the animation. Discuss how gears on your bicycle are similar to or different from the function of gears on a wind turbine.
- What device sends information to the controller about current wind speed? If hurricane strength winds blow through a wind farm, is there a safety function? Click through the components to see. If there is no safety function, what might happen to the wind farm and surrounding communities?
