https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz Made with eyes on the prize en-us 2017-10-09 13:54:32 UTC 2017-10-17 14:03:05 UTC hello@padlet.com john_rathgeber https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/195228601 I know that windmills are powered by the wind and when the things catching the wind turns, it'll make electricity. I want to know if wind or solar energy is the most energy efficient and not having a harmful impact on the ecosystem. ]]> 2017-10-09 13:55:05 UTC https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/195228601 john_rathgeber https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/195613927 I've learned that wind turbines' blades have slight pitches of over 20 degrees, and when the blades turn, they spin a generator, which then transfers the energy to power lines, which power homes and businesses. What I want to know is how much money do one of these cost? And how much energy does an average windmill in average wind speeds generate. Is it a reliable energy source?]]> 2017-10-10 14:22:02 UTC https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/195613927 john_rathgeber https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/196039944 I've learned that there are 2 types of windmills, one that grinds grain, and one that generates electricity. The one that grinds grain has 4 blades, and the one that generates electricity has 3 blades. What I want to know is how does the windmill that grinds grain work? And where do you find these types of windmills?]]> 2017-10-11 14:19:26 UTC https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/196039944 john_rathgeber https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/196422807 There are 2 different uses for windmills: for generating energy, and for grinding grain. The pitch is uses because if the blades are completely flat, they won't catch as much wind, if they are at a slight angle, the wind will catch inside there. If there are 4 blades, the windmill will move slowly, but since 3 blades aren't as heavy, the wind will move them easily. Also, if blades are short, they don't cover a big diameter of air, compared to when they're long, they cover a big diameter of space. Windmills are placed in high up places because there is nothing to block the wind. Usually, there is a whole windmill farm in a flatland area. Windmills generate electricity when the blades move, they'll turn some cogs to power the generator, which will transfer the energy to local businesses and homes. Our group chose 3 blades with a slight pitch. We realized that we'd have to somehow connect 3 ANGLED blades together, which is hard. I want to know where we are going to place the windmill, and if a small model will work as good as a real windmill.

Wind Farm]]> 2017-10-12 13:49:35 UTC https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/196422807 john_rathgeber https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/196813370 I've learned that in our windmill experiment, we need a bigger pitch, so it's not so slight. Maybe 4 blades would help to gather more wind to lift the cup of washers. I want to know how many and what angle would be best for a miniature windmill like our model.]]> 2017-10-13 13:54:00 UTC https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/196813370 john_rathgeber https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/197346455 We chose our design because in real life, a real windmill has 3 blades with a slight pitch to catch the most wind, but our pitch on our blades were facing the wrong way, so we turned the spokes around and we added some more pitch and those were our adjustments to our windmill prototype. Our windmill lifted the cup of washers in 1.57 seconds. We also made more blades because we learned that in real life, they only had 3 blades because it was the most cost efficient. Our design turned out to be much better than our last design.]]> 2017-10-16 13:51:06 UTC https://padlet.com/john_rathgeber/pvvmkg2rsetz/wish/197346455