Question: how do windmills work

William answered on 6 Nov 2018: last edited 6 Nov 2018 5:55 pm

Windmills were historically used to mill flour for bread making by the blade spinning and causing a load of bits inside to move ( like a machine) and grind the grain into a powder. Now a days we use a similar idea for energy, such as wind turbines where the wind causes the blade to spin and this creates energy which we can use for our homes.

It is done by connecting these spinning propellers to a generator. The generator uses the turning motion of the created by the propellers to rotate a rotor that has magnets and is surrounded by copper wire loops. This creates a thing called electromagnetic induction, and it generates electricity.