How Wind Turbines Work, Explained in 10 Minutes

How wind turbines work, from wind to electricity: lift, tip speed, the cube law, the Betz limit, the gearbox, and why turbines average about a third of their capacity. 0:00 The surprise 0:22 Where wind comes from 0:50 What a modern turbine is 1:25 Blades are wings, not paddles 1:54 Why the tips go so fast 2:39 Why three blades 3:07 The cube law 3:49 The Betz limit 4:40 Inside the nacelle 5:17 Facing the wind 6:02 How it protects itself 6:34 The power curve 7:14 Why it never runs at 100 percent 7:51 How big they get 8:53 The big picture Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, How Do Wind Turbines Work: https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-... U.S. EIA, Wind explained: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/w... U.S. EIA FAQ 427: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.ph... LBNL/DOE Land-Based Wind Market Report, 2024 Edition: https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/site... Wikipedia, Betz's law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27... Wikipedia, Wind turbine design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_tu... Wikipedia, Wind turbine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_tu... Figures marked as calculated are my arithmetic from these sources, using standard air density of 1.225 kg/m³. Narration is my own voice, cloned with AI. Diagrams are original.