Windmill Disaster

Large windmill overspeeds when braking system fails, disintegrates!

• Category

  Science & Technology

[iRenaatsouvagie]

Chuck Norris was breathing in front of the Wind Turbine.

[swillden]

Less dangerous than Chernobyl, absolutely. Less dangerous than modern nuclear reactor designs? That's less clear. Both windmills and nuclear power plants are far safer and far less polluting than fossil fuel plants, though. It's a perhaps counter-intuitive fact that coal plants produce more radioactive waste than nuclear plants do, because much coal has traces of radioactive elements.

The difference is that coal plants blow theirs into the sky.

[chainsaw0308]

That was pretty fucking awesome looking if you ask me

[The4LA2Baker0]

These look new and the new(last 15 years) windmills have a fail safe mechanism that turns the blades away from the wind in case a brake failure does occur. It seems like this shouldn't have happened.

[conceptforge]

"even" a "man" made machine can be pushed beyond it's limits? Really? What about space alien machines or animal made machines?

[pldlegolegend]

the turbine did have breaks just faulty ones but the next question,

dont know lol

[willzer808]

Sorry about that! My fault. it seems to me that the centripetal force only can come about by either being restrained or by being enclosed?? The centrifugal change in force is more perceptive than actual if it is that the force remains constant the whole time? People feel heavier and lighter undergoing this 'force' but they are actually experiencing a constant force? I'm just hazarding a guess at understanding here. Will look into it now that you have initiated an explanation. Thanks!

[Eaacker]

Power electronics probably failed for some reason. The blades are made from a composite material that has stronger tensile strength than steel. Probably a lot safer than steel being used as it is very light weight. My guess is that most of the debris that scattered outside the immediate vicinity of the turbine were carried by the wind.

[Eaacker]

As an American, with a degree in Physics, centripetal force is the correct term in this instance. Centrifugal force, is actually considered to be a "fictitious" force that arises from the inertia of a rotating object. Centripetal force is the restoring force that keeps the object from flying away from the rotatory axis.

The centripetal force of the blade, really provided by the tensile strength of the material, looses out to centrifugal acceleration.

[willzer808]

0:53 the centripical force? Am i wrong or are Americans very dumb? Surely he means centrifugal?

[cigeki]

way better than a nuclear power plant accident.

build some more.

[remingtonh]

wind turbines should be banned! they are dangerous.