If you’ve ever driven by a wind farm, you may have noticed that the turbines most likely have three blades. Not two, not five, but three. Now, you may think that if the point of a wind turbine is to capture wind, wouldn’t five blades capture more wind than three? And wouldn’t capturing more wind translate to generating more electricity? Why? The answer depends on what’s meant by capturing wind. The goal of an electricity generating turbine isn’t exactly to capture the most wind possible. It’s to capture wind with the greatest efficiency. And engineers have found that three blades is the most efficient and least troublesome way to harvest wind.

如果你曾经经营过风力发电的农村，你可能已经注意到，涡轮机，最可能有三个叶片。不是两个，也不是五个，而是三个。现在，你可能会认为风力涡轮机的就是为了能尽可能多地捕捉到风，个叶片捕获的风不是更多吗？捕获更多的风能从而产生更多的电力？为什么呢？答案取决于捕捉风的平均数。风力发电涡轮的目标是并不完全使要进坑捕捉到多的风。而是要最有效第捕捉风。工程师们发现，三个叶片是最有效地捕捉风，而且是最不麻烦的方式。