Power of the Wind

Power of the Wind is funded by a an Environmental Education Grant from Public Service Gas and Electric.  The content of the project is the sole responsibility of the grant recipient.

Project Pictures

Students used hand-held generators to observe how wind turbines convert mechanical energy to electrical energy.  Students discovered that electricity is generated when the handle is turend.  They observed that the brightness of a lightbulb on the end of the generator increased or decreased according to the rate at which the crank was turned.

Why didn't the turbine generate electrity when the small fan was turned on?  Students observed that the wind  stream was too narrow and failed to cause the propellers to rotate.  Without rotation, no electricity was generated and the volt meter remained at 0.

A larger fan generated high speed sinds that were spread more evenly accross the turbine rotors.  The turbine generated 1 volt of electricity.

Using an anemometer, students discovered that the largest fan generated a windspeed similar to the smaller fan.  This turbine generated 12-15 volts of electricity depending on the distance from the fan.

Still trying to generate electricity with the small square fans, students tried two fans without success.

Students used Internet resources to find out how commercial wind turbines work and the conditions needed for efficient operation.