“Humans have harnessed the power of wind for thousands of years. Back in the day, it was used for grinding grain or pumping water. Now wind power is used to create clean and sustainable electricity thanks to powerful wind turbines which combine ancient technology with cutting-edge engineering.”
In this sustainable energy activity, aerospace engineer Jasmine Sadler builds a series of small-scale wind turbines, then measures their effectiveness with a hair dryer to create wind, a voltmeter to measure generated energy, and a single LED waiting to be powered.
This Mission Unstoppable video, hosted by Miranda Cosgrove, shares the experiment. Model this technology at home or in class with cardstock, skewers, a cork, a 1.5V DC hobby motor, and a dowel rod.
• Design a Wind Turbine with the DiscoverE.org (grades 3-8).
Watch more videos about wind turbines and windmills:
• How do wind turbines work?
• Climbing Wind Turbines for a Living
• Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba story
• The 1,000 year old windmills of Nashtifan
Bonus: How does a watermill work?
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