science

Greenbird

Greenbird is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Greenbird rather than just read about it. In short: Greenbird is a wind-powered vehicle that broke the land speed record for sail-powered vehicles at the dry Ivanpah Lake on March 26, 2009. It was built by the British engineer Richard Jenkins.

Key takeaways

Greenbird belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Greenbird to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Greenbird from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Greenbird is a wind-powered vehicle that broke the land speed record for sail-powered vehicles at the dry Ivanpah Lake on March 26, 2009. It was built by the British engineer Richard Jenkins. Greenbird reached a peak speed of 126.1 mph (202.9 km/h).

Construction Greenbird, sponsored by Ecotricity, was described as being "a very high performance sailboat". It uses a rigid vertical wing, instead of the conventional sail, to generate thrust, in the same manner that the wing of an aeroplane generates lift. The only metal in the vehicle is in the wheels and the wing bearings; the remainder is made of carbon composite materials. The vehicle weighs about six hundred kilograms. According to Jenkins, the light weight and aerodynamic shape of the vehicle allows it to attain speeds three to five times faster than the speed of the wind. Greenbird is the fifth in a series of wind-powered land vehicles that Jenkins had constructed in his efforts to break the speed record. Jenkins said he had been trying to break the record for the past ten years in different locations, such as Australia, Britain, and the United States, but weather conditions were not suitable for him to reach maximum speeds.

References

External links Greenbird Blog Announcement About the Greenbird (official site) North American Land Sailing Association "Iron Duck". YouTube. Iron Duck Project featuring Richard Jenkins and Greenbird. Nov 3, 2022

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Greenbird

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Greenbird claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Greenbird before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Greenbird ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Greenbird

In research: Greenbird appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Greenbird in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Greenbird is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Wind-powered vehicles, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Greenbird outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Greenbird in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Greenbird means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Greenbird out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Greenbird in simple terms?

Greenbird is a wind-powered vehicle that broke the land speed record for sail-powered vehicles at the dry Ivanpah Lake on March 26, 2009. It was built by the British engineer Richard Jenkins.

Why does Greenbird matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Greenbird?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Greenbird.