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Introduction:
(Initial Observation)
- Wind
is a form of solar energy that occurs
when the sun heats the air, which
causes the air to rise, creating a
vacuum. That vacuum pulls in cooler
air creating wind. Scientists estimate
that some 2 percent of sunlight energy
received by the earth is converted to
kinetic energy of the winds. (Righter
3)
- Tenth
century, vertical carousel-type mills
were used in Persia to grind corn and
raise water from streams for
irrigation.
- European
post-mill (whole tower and mechanism
turned to face the wind) profoundly
affected European development from the
twelfth to nineteen centuries. The
first English post-windmill was
erected in 1137 A.D. by William of
Almoner of Leicester. (Righter 10)
- The
Dutch adopted tower-mill windmills
where only the tower and sails changed
direction with the wind.
- Uses
include grinding pepper and other
spices, cocoa dyes, chalk, and paint
pigments. Lumber companies employed
them as primary power for saw mills.
Paper companies used windmills to
reduce wood to pulp for paper.
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This
page is under construction
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In this project
you will make a working model of a wind turbine
and calculate the amount of electrical energy that
can be produced by your wind turbine. You can make
a wind turbine using wood. So wood working skills,
some tools and adult supervision and help is
required for this project. |
Information
Gathering:
Gather
information about your project. If you are a basic
or advanced member of ScienceProject.com, your
project advisor may prepare the initial
information that you need and enter them in this
section. In any case it is necessary for you to
read additional books, magazines or ask
professionals who might know in order to learn
more about the subject of your research. Keep
track of where you got your information from.
Components
These are the
components or parts for each of most wind mills.
Propeller
The propeller draws
the power for generator from wind.
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Question/
Purpose:
What do
you want to find out? Write a statement that
describes what you want to do. Use your
observations and questions to write the statement.
The purpose of
this project is to build a small wooden wind
turbine and connect it to a small generator in
order to produce electricity.
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Identify
Variables:
When you
think you know what variables may be involved,
think about ways to change one at a time. If you
change more than one at a time, you will not know
what variable is causing your observation.
Sometimes variables are linked and work together
to cause something. At first, try to choose
variables that you think act independently of each
other.
Variables that
may affect the production of electricity by a wind
turbine are design variables such as size and
shape of the propeller, as well as wind speed.
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Hypothesis:
Based on
your gathered information, make an educated guess
about the answer to your question or the result of
your experiment.
My hypothesis is
that a wooden propeller, installed on a generator
with or without a gear box can produce
electricity.
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Experiment
Design:
Design
an experiment to test each hypothesis. Make a
step-by-step list of what you will do to answer
each question. This list is called an experimental
procedure. For an experiment to give answers you
can trust, it must have a "control." A
control is an additional experimental trial or
run. It is a separate experiment, done exactly
like the others. The only difference is that no
experimental variables are changed. A control is a
neutral "reference point" for comparison
that allows you to see what changing a variable
does by comparing it to not changing anything.
Dependable controls are sometimes very hard to
develop. They can be the hardest part of a
project. Without a control you cannot be sure that
changing the variable causes your observations. A
series of experiments that includes a control is
called a "controlled experiment."
So you want to
make a wind turbine and use it's energy to run an
electric generator. There are many ways that you
can design your project. For example you may
construct a wooden propeller and connect it
directly to a bicycle generator to produce
electricity.
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Materials
and Equipment:
List of
material depends on your final design. In general
you will need some wood, some wires, a generator,
a light bulb and a socket. Additional material
such as nails, screws and wood glues depend on
your design.
Where
to buy?
You may purchase
wood from some hardware stores or home improvement
stores or hobby stores.
Screw base 6
volts light bulb and socket can also be purchased
from hardware stores.
Bicycle
generator is available at bicycle stores and sport
shops.
These material
may also be ordered online to MiniScience.com or
klk.com
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Results
of Experiment (Observation):
Experiments
are often done in series. A series of experiments
can be done by changing one variable a different
amount each time. A series of experiments is made
up of separate experimental "runs."
During each run you make a measurement of how much
the variable affected the system under study. For
each run, a different amount of change in the
variable is used. This produces a different amount
of response in the system. You measure this
response, or record data, in a table for this
purpose. This is considered "raw data"
since it has not been processed or interpreted
yet. When raw data gets processed mathematically,
for example, it becomes results. |
Calculations:
If you
do any calculation for your project, write your
calculations in this section. |
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Summery
of Results:
Summarize
what happened. This can be in the form of a table
of processed numerical data, or graphs. It could
also be a written statement of what occurred
during experiments.
It is from
calculations using recorded data that tables and
graphs are made. Studying tables and graphs, we
can see trends that tell us how different
variables cause our observations. Based on these
trends, we can draw conclusions about the system
under study. These conclusions help us confirm or
deny our original hypothesis. Often, mathematical
equations can be made from graphs. These equations
allow us to predict how a change will affect the
system without the need to do additional
experiments. Advanced levels of experimental
science rely heavily on graphical and mathematical
analysis of data. At this level, science becomes
even more interesting and powerful.
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Conclusion:
Using
the trends in your experimental data and your
experimental observations, try to answer your
original questions. Is your hypothesis correct?
Now is the time to pull together what happened,
and assess the experiments you did. |
Related
Questions & Answers:
What you
have learned may allow you to answer other
questions. Many questions are related. Several new
questions may have occurred to you while doing
experiments. You may now be able to understand or
verify things that you discovered when gathering
information for the project. Questions lead to
more questions, which lead to additional
hypothesis that need to be tested. |
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Possible
Errors:
If you
did not observe anything different than what
happened with your control, the variable you
changed may not affect the system you are
investigating. If you did not observe a
consistent, reproducible trend in your series of
experimental runs there may be experimental errors
affecting your results. The first thing to check
is how you are making your measurements. Is the
measurement method questionable or unreliable?
Maybe you are reading a scale incorrectly, or
maybe the measuring instrument is working
erratically.
If you determine
that experimental errors are influencing your
results, carefully rethink the design of your
experiments. Review each step of the procedure to
find sources of potential errors. If possible,
have a scientist review the procedure with you.
Sometimes the designer of an experiment can miss
the obvious.
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| References:
Wind mills are
usually made in large sizes. Links will follow:
http://www.otherpower.com/woodmill.html
http://www.energy.iastate.edu/WindManual/Text-Power.html
http://www.windmillersgazette.com/images/photo18.jpg
http://home.inforamp.net/~ffwd/windmill/
http://www.entfored.com/nav3/greenpower.html
http://www.oswego.edu/nova/facts/wind/wind.html
http://www.memeshadow.net/cmamas/meccano/cmnet01.html
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