Earth Day is April 22, and it's up to us to protect and preserve the place we call home! One way to do this is by using renewable energy. Renewable energy comes from natural resources that can replenish themselves, such as plants, the wind, the sun, and water. Wind turbines use renewable energy created by the wind to produce electricity. Pretty cool, right?!
In this experiment, you'll observe how wind strength is affected by different locations, times, and altitudes.
Materials:
Pencils with erasers
Thumbtack
25-cm of thread
Paper
Protractor
Compass
Procedures:
Draw a rough diagram of the outside of your school. Include bushes and trees that might affect the wind strength.
Using a compass, determine the North, South, East, and West directions. Label your diagram.
Take care to note the different altitudes of the land around your school. Ask yourself, “Is this side of the school higher than other parts?”
Make a device to measure the strength of the wind by pushing the thumbtack into the eraser of a pencil and tying the thread around the thumbtack.
Choose two times of the day that you plan to conduct this experiment.
Measure the power of the wind using your device. Hold the device in the air at different locations around your school. Observe the blowing thread. The higher the thread blows, the higher the wind energy is at that location.
Rate the wind energy 1-5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. Be sure to record your observations on your chart (click the button below to download the chart).
Repeat this procedure at all the locations. Record the results.
Note the time of day and the weather conditions at the time of recording.
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