Intro. to the Natural Sciences

1) What are 3 challenges and 3 benefits of wind energy from a social, environmental, and economic perspective? What are the trade-offs of wind energy? Be sure to include real-world examples connecting what you did in class to these examples. 

  Building my mini turbine to lift a load showed me that wind power is a great environmental tool because it works without using any fuel or creating pollution. From an economic view, wind is free and that helps us save money over time, and it also creates a lot of jobs for people who build and fix these machines. Socially, it allows communities to produce their own power locally. However, there are big challenges. The machines can be noisy for neighbors, they take up a lot of space, and they only work when the wind is actually blowing. 

  The biggest trade-off is that we have to cooperate with nature. With a gas engine, you can get power whenever you want, but with wind, you'll always have to wait for wind to actually blow. This means we trade "convenience" for "sustainability". In the real world, engineers have to build real and huge wind turbines and find ways to store that energy so it's ready even when the air is still. It's a deal where we accept that things are a bit more complicated to manage so we can keep the Earth healthy for the long run. 

2) 

Describe your initial wind turbine design, including what it looked like and why you chose your blade shape, size, and materials.

Explain how you tested your turbine. What did you measure (e.g., speed, movement, stability), how did you keep the test fair, and what data or observations did you collect? Describe what problem you noticed, what you changed, and why. Explain how your design improved using evidence. 

 In the picture on the right, you can see the design and how our wind turbine works. We didn't really have and data because it was very difficult to even let the thing actually spin since the fan was out of  battery and our foundation was a little unstable. We tested out both three blades and four blades and I believe the four blade one worked better because we adjusted the blade shape into a more 3d dimensional shape. We made it into a more "spoon " shape so it could actually keep the wind's energy and spin more. 

3) What are the environmental, social, and economic impacts of wind energy? Based on your research, is wind energy a good energy solution and why?

  Building my mini turbine was a cool way to see how wind can do real work without any fuel. Environmentally, it’s very friendly because it doesn't create any smoke or pollution. Economically, even though turbines are expensive to build, the wind is free, so it actually saves money. Socially, it helps towns make their own power, though some people think the big towers are noisy or look messy.

I think wind energy is a great solution because keeping the Earth clean is the most important thing. However, wind doesn't blow all the time, so it’s not as steady as using gas or coal. In the real world, engineers face the same problem I had. They have to design the best blades possible to make sure the wind can actually lift things or make power efficiently. It’s a bit more work to manage, but it’s worth it to stop global warming.

4) 

What specific feedback did you receive? How did you use that feedback to improve your design? 

  My teacher told us that the wind turbine wouldn't work might be because that the number of the blade was too less, so we added two more blade but then found out that it was too heavy and the whole thing might fall apart since we were out of tape. After that, we took one off and we have four left and it worked perfectly.