IMechE STEM Activity Water Turbine

electricity is essential for so many things we do every day from keeping our houses warm to our food cool to powering electric vehicles this energy can be generated in different ways but to ensure the uk government reaches its target of zero emissions by 2050 engineers and scientists are working to develop sources of power that are greener and cleaner for the future turbines are an important source of power that drive many kinds of machines turbine consists of shaft mounted with circle of blades in hydroelectric power stations turbines are driven by the kinetic energy in falling water often the water comes from behind dam built across river valley the water high up behind the dam contains gravitational potential energy this is transferred to kinetic energy as the water rushes down through the tubes and over the turbine blades water is green and renewable source of energy because it does not pollute the environment or use finite resource like fossil fuels in this project we're going to show you how to make your own water powered turbine to allow you to harness the kinetic energy of water to power all sorts of things for this challenge you'll need the following items and full list is available on our website let's get started first we're going to take 2 liter bottle of water and measure tall 15 centimeter by 8 centimeter rectangular hole which will allow us to position the turbine inside just below this mark smaller hole which will allow the water to escape as it flows through the model using skewer or something sharp make hole in the bottle in the corner then using pair of scissors cut along the lines as shown now it's time to start constructing your turbine begin by taking the larger rectangle you cut from the bottle and use your ruler to measure four smaller rectangles which are three centimeters by 3.5 centimeters these will form the turbine blades now mark quarters onto one of the cotton reels using marker pen this will ensure the blades are evenly spaced next glue the turbine blades onto the marked lines using hot glue gun you will need to squeeze the two edges of the blade together slightly as you glue it because it is wider than the cotton reel this will create scoop shape to catch the water next we will make some holes for the dowel measure from the top of the bottle 12 centimeters down and mark two small two centimeter by one centimeter slits in the side of the bottle as before use your sharp skewer and scissors to cut the slits we will now put everything together hold the turbine inside of the bottle and align the reel between the pair of upper holes and directly below the bottleneck it is important at this point to make sure the scoop on the turbine blade is facing upwards to collect the water put some glue inside the cotton reel and insert dowel through the slits in the side of the bottle and through the cotton reel to keep the dowel in place wrap tape around the outside of the bottle to keep it from moving sideways next place glue inside of the central shaft of the cotton reel and place the reel over one end of the dowel then glue the card disc to one end of the cotter reel you could decorate the disc using one of the patterns on the worksheet to create an optical illusion as it spins you may find that the dowel is not sitting straight at this point if so you can use some of the modelling clay to balance the weight of the card disc place the model into tray so that any flowing water from the lowest hole is collected place funnel in the neck of the bottle and secure with modelling clay finally hold your jug of water above the model this gives your water gravitational potential energy because you have raised it up against the force of gravity then pour the water through the funnel converting the energy to kinetic energy as the water moves now watch as the energy from the water makes the turbine blade spin you can find out more about the science behind this invention step-by-step instructions and quiz to test your knowledge in our accompanying worksheet and for more hands-on projects to try at home visit imachi.org forward slash stem at home you