Power, Work and the Waterwheel
Waterwheels are devices that generate power and do work. Student teams construct waterwheels using two-liter plastic bottles, dowel rods and index cards, and calculate the power created and work done by them.
Students create their own waterwheelsCopyright California Department of Transportation http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist07/sync/i7/112007/water_wheel.jpg
Civil, geotechnical, environmental mechanical and electrical engineers collaborate to design and construct dams that generate electricity from the flow of water. When engineers design these dams, called hydroelectric power plants, they calculate the amount of power that can be generated by the plant. Knowing the dam's potential power generation, they can further estimate the maximum rural or urban region that can be supplied with electricity generated from the dam.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain the connection between the concepts of power and work and engineering design.
- Work in a design group.
- Explain a nonlinear function (such as, power is inversely proportional to time).
- Collect data to solve equations and form conclusions.