Windmill Project

Materials: 3 pieces of thick rectangular wood sticks, thin balsa wood panels, 1 wood pole

We needed to ensure that the tower had proper stability so that wind and the force from the rotating blades wouldn't knock it off balance. To achieve this, we secured the cross-section of the sticks using a combination of hot glue and nails. We then added panels at the very end of three sticks (front plus two sides) for extra support. After nailing and hot gluing the main tower (wood stick), we added a slanted support pole to stabilize the single stick.

Materials: 5 thin balsa wood panels, 5 thin wood poles

After completing simulation runs using KidWind, we developed a blade ratio that would maximize our lift and minimize our drag. We transferred the ratio from the simulation onto paper and calculated the dimensions for the wood panels. The top edge of each panel is hot-glued to a pole with roughly 3 inches of the pole hanging out from the root of the blade. With the fifth panel, we cut out two identical rectangles with a hole in the center. Using hot glue, we attached each blade to one of the rectangular panels at a 20-degree angle. Then we sandwiched the second piece of panel on top to secure the root of the blades in place. For additional support, we glued short segments of poles inside the panel sandwich.

Materials: magnetic wire, 4 magnets, thick wood pole

Similar to the previous paper cup motor activity, we will generate electric charge by using the magnetic field created by magnets interacting with wire coils.  We wrapped the wire around roughly 60 times and made sure to leave two tails hanging out that were sanded for better contact. Next, we taped four magnets to a pole, ensuring that the magnets' poles alternated. This pole will later be attached to a blade mechanism that will spin the magnets to create an electric field.