Windmills Have Been a Part of Oklahoma S History for Over 100 Years. Recently, the Windmill

Wind Energy NSTA 2007

Windmills have been a part of Oklahoma’s history for over 100 years. Recently, the windmill has been adapted from a device used to tell wind direction to a way to harness the wind’s energy. With today’s increasing focus on green energy, it is important for students to understand the value of alternative energy sources, such as wind energy. By completing this activity, students will understand the mechanics and physics behind wind energy, as well as be able to relate their findings with the importance of wind energy as an alternative energy source.

Objectives High School: Using the materials provided, students will design, create, and test a windmill and manipulate variables to determine revolutions per second and estimate the kinetic energy of their windmill using metric conversions.

Jr. High: Using the materials provided, students will design their own windmill and compare it to other students’ windmills and speculate why their design is more energy efficient.

Elementary: Using the radar gun provided, students will measure the 8 blade windmill and the 4 blade windmill and compare the energy levels of the two.

Materials High School and Jr. High: Hotwheels Radar Gun Metal Brad 3 Speed Fan Dowel Rod Paper Plates Tape/Glue Scissors Stands and Clamps

Elementary: Hotwheels Radar Gun 3 Speed Fan 2 8-blade pinwheels Scissors Stands and Clamps

Procedure/Assessment High School: After using the materials to design their own windmill, students will control the number, weight, pitch, and length of the windmill blades. Students will then use the following equations to determine the revolutions per second and estimate the kinetic energy of their windmill using metric conversions: v=rw (velocity = radius * omega) w=v/r (omega = velocity / radius) KE = ½ mv2 (Kinetic Energy = ½ mv2

The Hotwheels radar gun measures km/hr at 64 X the true value, so to get the true value of km/hr, we must divide the number read by the gun by 64.

Junior High: After the students have designed and created their own windmills and compared them to the class, students will create a class- wide data table and pick the most efficient design. They will then speculate why this table was most efficient.

Elementary: After comparing the two pinwheels, students will compare the energy levels of the two pinwheels and determine that more blades = more energy.