Embedded Files
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Wini from the Mill City Museum introduces you to River Power!
I WONDER...
I WONDER...
- How does a turbine work?
- How can you power a mill without electricity?
- What were the effects of using water for power?
- I wonder how a waterfall made machines run?
- I wonder if people use the water for electricity?
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
Click the drop-down list to know your RIVER POWER words!
Click the drop-down list to know your RIVER POWER words!
Flour - ground up grain (like wheat).
Flour mill - a building with machines that grind grain into flour
Headrace - flow of water when diverted by a dam or canal
Hydropower - energy from falling or running water
Mill - a factory with machinery for a manufacturing process
Millstone - big stones used for grinding wheat
Power - the rate at which work is done or the rate at which energy is transferred.
Sawmill - a building with machines for sawing logs
St. Anthony Falls - waterfall located in Minnesota in the Mississippi river; Minneapolis is built around the waterfall; the Dakota name is Owamniyomni, or “Curling Water,” and the Anishinabe name is Gitchi Kakabika, or “Great Severed Rock”
Turbine - a rotary machine that converts the energy of water into mechanical work
Tailrace - where water exits water power system, leaves the mill, and flows back to the river
Water wheel - a wheel turned by flowing water usually used to operate machinery
Wheat - a type of plant; the hard seeds of the wheat plant can be ground into flour to make breads, cereal, and pasta.
LEARN IT
LEARN IT
Understanding the power of the falls!
SLIDE DECK - The Power of St. Anthony Falls
Learn how the water at St. Anthony Falls was used to run machines!
Learn how the water at St. Anthony Falls was used to run machines!
READ - What's Good and Bad About Water Power?
Understand how water power is both useful and sometimes harmful!
Understand how water power is both useful and sometimes harmful!
Click on picture
VIDEO - The Evolution of Water Power
How early water wheels worked to power machines in the past and create electricity for the future!
How early water wheels worked to power machines in the past and create electricity for the future!
VIDEO - Energy 101-Hydropower
Understand how modern water power is used to generate electricity to power your iPhone and more!
Understand how modern water power is used to generate electricity to power your iPhone and more!
NARRATION - Tour the Underground Minneapolis Water System
See and hear about how water made its way from the river and under the city to turn steel turbines that powered the early flour mills!
See and hear about how water made its way from the river and under the city to turn steel turbines that powered the early flour mills!
Tunnel system narrated.mp4DO IT
DO IT
Putting power into action!
EXPERIMENT - Water Wheel Work
How do simple tools show us how water power works?
How do simple tools show us how water power works?
Scroll or click to see document
EXPERIMENT - Waterfall Experiment
How are falling water and kinetic energy connected?
How are falling water and kinetic energy connected?
Scroll or click to see document
EXPERIMENT - Energy of Falling Water!
What can a splash of water tell us about energy?
What can a splash of water tell us about energy?
Scroll or click to see document
KNOW IT
KNOW IT
Show what you know about river power with this quick self-assessment!
Try to answer each question, then click its drop-down menu to see the correct answer.
Try to answer each question, then click its drop-down menu to see the correct answer.
Multiple Choice: Which area of a river has the most water power?
A. A slow moving section of the river
B. A waterfall
C. The delta of the river
D. The wetland backwaters
Answer: B
Waterfalls have fast moving water. All of the other areas listed have slow moving water.
Multiple Choice: Which of the following industries were located at St. Anthony Falls at one time or another?
A. Sawmills
B. Flour mills
C. Hydroelectric power plant
D. All of the above
Answer: D
St. Anthony Falls was a busy industrial area that created wood, food, and electricity products.
True or False: In a hydroelectric plant, falling water spins a turbine, which makes a generator spin, and the spinning generator creates an electric current (electricity).
A. True
B. False
Answer: A
Electricity can be created from the simple act of falling water acting upon a turbine to spin a generator.
Multiple Choice: Complete the sentence: Sawmills and flour mills were located at St. Anthony Falls because...
A. That’s where the most powerful water was located
B. A lot of people lived in Minneapolis and St. Paul where the falls was located
C. That’s where the railroad was located
D. The falls was so pretty to look at
Answer: A
Multiple Choice: Which has the most power?
A. A cup of water poured from 3 feet off the ground
B. A cup of water poured 1 foot off the ground
C. A cup of water sitting in a puddle on the ground
D. They all have the same amount of power
Answer: A
As an object like water falls, it moves faster and faster. The farther the water falls, the faster it moves and the more power it has.
Multiple Choice: What is a turbine?
A. A stone for grinding wheat
B. A channel where water was diverted from a river
C. A gear for making a saw go up and down
D. A machine with curved blades that are pushed by moving water causing it to spin
Answer: D
True or False: St. Anthony Falls is the only major waterfall on the entire Mississippi river.
A. True
B. False
Answer: A
True or False: Machines must have electricity to power them.
A. True
B. False
Answer: B
Machines can also use moving water to power them.
Multiple Choice: What impacts did the industries that grew around St. Anthony Falls have?
A. The industries employed many people
B. The boards sawed at the sawmills were used to build homes for the growing population
C. The flour made at the mills fed the growing population
D. All of the above
Answer: D
True or False: People “engineered” or changed the landscape around the waterfall in order to control the water and use it to power the mills.
A. True
B. False
Answer: A
Dams, tunnels and canals were built to move the water to the mills.
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