Introduction with electricity production focus:
We need energy for lighting and heating buildings, cooking, moving around by car or bus…
There are sustainable ways of getting this energy (‘clean energy’) using resources that are renewable (they are replaced as we use them) and zero emission (they do not put carbon dioxide into the air).
List some sustainable ways of making electricity:
Wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, ocean (tidal and wave energy).
Introduction with natural resources focus:
Natural resources are materials all around us in our natural world, that are resources for making things.
They are valuable for us, for making energy or providing food or building structures.
List of natural resources: water, rocks/minerals, wind, forests, oceans, sunlight.
Some resources are renewable - they are replaced as we use them e.g. water, wind, sunlight, forests. (Although they are renewable we need to be careful how fast we use them.)
Some resources are non-renewable - they are not replaced faster than we use them e.g. fossil fuels (coal and oil) and rocks (used to make metals, or precious gemstones).
This lesson focuses on wind energy and the engineering to make wind turbines.
Build a wind spinner
Students use materials to engineer a device that turns when they blow on it.
Understand the parts: a part that allows it to spin (pivot), and a part that catches the wind (blade).
Build a wind turbine, which converts wind power into electricity.
To make electricity from wind, we need a pivot and blades, as well as a way to convert the turning motion into electrical energy. A generator has a shaft that turns and makes electricity. (A generator is basically a backwards motor.)
Sustainable energy discussion (10 mins)
Back to list of sustainable ways of making electricity.
Show image of wind farm and wind turbine. (from website)
Hydroelectric also has a turbine. Moving water turns it. Show hydro turbines. 87% of BC electricity is hydro.
Heat energy makes steam which turns a turbine (from geothermal, solar, also coal, natural gas, nuclear)
Solar (solar energy releases electrons in (semiconductor) material, which flow out as electrical current)
(‘semi' means its electrical conductivity is less than that of a metal but more than an insulator’s.)
Wind turbine videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQpbTTGe_gk (2.5 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy9nj94xvKA (5 mins)
Interactive live map of Earth’s winds: https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-…
Optionally also build electric circuits to see how electricity can be used in circuits.
Batteries can be charged by renewable methods.
