I didn’t want to stretch m’ luck yesterday and go on too long. But there’s more to say about Burrumbeet.
After I posted the story I went back. There was no sunset to write home about because there were no clouds and it’s the clouds that make sunsets. But this is what I got. It’ll have to do for now.
As you may have noticed there are a lot of wind turbines just to the north of the lake.
The Waubra wind farm is the largest wind farm by number of turbines and total capacity in the southern hemisphere when it was completed in July 2009. There are 128 turbines and the total installed capacity is 192 MW.
They are pretty big and there was, and still is, a bit of fuss about their being visually polluting and that they kill birds as they spin around.
So I pretended I was till teaching Maths and tried to work a few things out.
First of all…..
…..each blade is 41 metres long. (Made in Brazil)
As they whirl around they describe a circle of 85 metres. The extra three metres, for those of you who are still awake, is for the central hub.
They go around quite slowly – at first looking at them.
So I got out my trusty mobile phone, opened the stopwatch application and counted the revolutions in one minute. They can be regulated by a controller in Melbourne and today, the one I checked was rotating at 18 revolutions each minute. Bear with me. And the boy in the back of the class, wake up. There will be a test.
Question: How far does the tip of a blade travel each time around.
Circumference = Radius x 2 x π.
Circumference = 42.5 x 2 x 3.14159
Circumference = 267 metres.
Now multiply that by 18 to get metres per minute equals. 4807 metres/minute.
Now there are 60 minutes in an hour so in one hour the tip will travel 4807 x 60 metres.
This is 288,398 metres/hour,
OR 288/kmh or about 180 miles per hour.
And that is fast.
I actually quite like the grandeur of the wind turbines.
Although if I had to choose I would prefer the sunset…
….even if there was no cloud.
Oh. Nearly forgot.
How about a poem about asking stupid questions.
The poem was written by an Australian poet. C. J. Dennis in 1921.
THE TRAVELLER
As I rode in to Burrumbeet,
I met a man with funny feet;
And, when I paused to ask him why
His feet were strange, he rolled his eye
And said the rain would spoil the wheat;
So I rode on to Burrumbeet.
As I rode in to Beetaloo,
I met a man whose nose was blue;
And when I asked him how he got
A nose like that, he answered, “What
Do bullocks mean when they say ‘Moo’?”
So I rode on to Beetaloo.
As I rode in to Ballarat,
I met a man who wore no hat;
And, when I said he might take cold,
He cried, “The hills are quite as old
As yonder plains, but not so flat.”
So I rode on to Ballarat.
As I rode in to Gundagai,
I met a man and passed him by
Without a nod, without a word.
He turned, and said he’d never heard
Or seen a man so wise as I.
But I rode on to Gundagai.
As I rode homeward, full of doubt,
I met a stranger riding out:
A foolish man he seemed to me;
But, “Nay, I am yourself,” said he,
“Just as you were when you rode out.”
So I rode homeward, free of doubt.
Paol Soren 