How does spinning provide mechanical energy?

Question

Wind turbines for example. I understand it needs a generator, but I don't understand how it generates power into it.

I was also wondering if it worked both ways. Like if a wind turbine provided energy by spinning clockwise, could/would it (hypothetically) power the generator by spinning counterclockwise?

Answer 1

The wind turbine is either directly connected to the generator, or connected via belts or gears.

The spinning generator generates electricity by way of Faraday's law of induction, which says a moving magnetic field will induce current in a fixed wire.  Simplified, a spinning magnet and a fixed wire will generate electricity.

Yes, I could work backwards, and does in hybrid automobiles. The electric motor generates electricity when you are braking, and puts that electricity into a battery for future use.

But it doesn't have to rotate in the other direction to change from a generator to a motor, it's a matter of whether you pull power from the generator/motor or deliver power to it.

Faraday's law of induction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday%27s...

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Answer 2

Do you mean how the generator converts spinning into electricity or how the blades turn the generator?

Yes, all generators will work and provide the same current which ever way they spin. This is because the current they generate is AC (alternating current, which switches polarity at twice the frequency of which the generator is spinning).

Seb

Answer 3

Spinning doesn't provide mechanical energy, spinning IS mechanical energy

in your example the wind turban will convert one type of mechanical energy (the wind) into rotational force (another type of mech. energy) and through the generator into electrial energy