Windmills Essay

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------------------------------------------------- Windmill From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Windmill (disambiguation). The smock mill Goliath in front of the wind farm Growindin Eemshaven in the Netherlands A windmill is a machine that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades.[1][2] The reason for the name "windmill" is that the devices originally were developed for milling grain for food production; the name stuck when in the course of history, windmill machinery was adapted to supply power for many industrial and agricultural needs other than milling.[3] The majority of modern windmills take the form of wind turbines used to generate electricity, or windpumps used to pump water, either for land drainage or to extract groundwater. Contents [hide] * 1 Windmills in antiquity * 2 Horizontal windmills * 3 Vertical windmills * 3.1 Post mill * 3.2 Hollow-post mill * 3.3 Tower mill * 3.4 Smock mill * 4 Mechanics * 4.1 Sails * 4.2 Machinery * 5 Spread and decline * 6 Wind turbines * 7 Windpumps * 8 See also * 9 References * 10 Further reading * 11 External links ------------------------------------------------- Windmills in antiquity Heron's wind-powered organ The windwheel of the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria in the first century AD is the earliest known instance of using a wind-driven wheel to power a machine.[4][5] Another early example of a wind-driven wheel was the prayer wheel, which was used in ancient Tibet andChina since the fourth century.[6] It has been claimed that the Babylonian emperor Hammurabi planned to use wind power for his ambitious irrigation project in the seventeenth century BC.[7] ------------------------------------------------- Horizontal windmills The Persian
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