One of the things I love about physics is how it helps you think about the world.
If you've done some physics at school you might know the equation 1/2mv^2 for kinetic energy - the energy a moving object carries.
You may have heard that wind power scales as v^3, i.e. the wind velocity cubed.
The most energy you can extract from wind is it's kinetic energy (so proportional to v^2), but the mass flowing through your turbine per second is density * velocity. So power is proportional to v^3.
Doug Binks
npub1th…5wmja
2025-11-06 10:33:39 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1th46rew0fz9nwjq7l2esvp7xd0zkmmz8kg9xgrp03kwsm9lx8a0qj5wmjaPublished at
2025-11-06 10:33:39 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "5888bc3e35debbb3534beed453661336b6c1ce97d99a612b08405809bfe1a862",
"pubkey": "5deba1e5cf488b37481efab30607c66bc56dec47b20a640c2f8d9d0d97e63f5e",
"created_at": 1762425219,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"proxy",
"https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/dougbinks/statuses/115502299206040921",
"activitypub"
],
[
"client",
"Mostr",
"31990:6be38f8c63df7dbf84db7ec4a6e6fbbd8d19dca3b980efad18585c46f04b26f9:mostr",
"wss://relay.ditto.pub/"
]
],
"content": "One of the things I love about physics is how it helps you think about the world.\n\nIf you've done some physics at school you might know the equation 1/2mv^2 for kinetic energy - the energy a moving object carries.\n\nYou may have heard that wind power scales as v^3, i.e. the wind velocity cubed.\n\nThe most energy you can extract from wind is it's kinetic energy (so proportional to v^2), but the mass flowing through your turbine per second is density * velocity. So power is proportional to v^3.",
"sig": "b347c0c496411e06cd53b8580733acd88a8ac1f092148f90b0d219026b6917f806aa3629f9b0fc3f85835da18cd619a893cb1c84aea0e05839884b708324e8e4"
}