Conservation of Energy and Resources:

By: Brooke Foskey

G5A

The Waterwheel

Table of Contents:

• Purpose

• Materials

• Procedure

• Observations

• Experimental Sequence

• Conclusion

• Big idea

The Purpose:

• To make a waterwheel that can generate energy to lift the weight of a small lump of modeling clay.

The Materials:

• One barbecue stick

• Two corks

• A plastic water bottle

• Threads of string

• Clay

Procedure:1. Cut a plastic water bottle in to three pieces. The

middle section should be 8 cm long.

2. Cut 4 strips 2 cm wide out of the middle piece. Cut them in half to give you 8 “blades”.

3. Use a pen/pencil to draw 8 even lines down the side of a cork. Cut lines down the cork with a blunt knife. Slide the “blades” into the 8 lines.

4. Cut away a section of the bottle base: (in the picture below, the section that’s supposed to be cut off is shown in red) and pierce two holes just above the bottom, one on either side.

5. Cut a wooden barbecue stick in half. Put each half through the holes pierced and push the sticks into the cork.

6. Put the other cork on the end of one of the sticks. Tie some thread on the cork and attach a small lump of modeling clay to the end of the string.

Observations:

• While the water flowed on the water wheel, I noticed that the second cork began to spin around- with the string. The string pulled the clay up, lifting the weight of the modeling clay.

Experimental sequence:

My experiment passed the test!

Conclusion:• From this experiment, I have learned

that water can also be an option to generate energy to do things for you. However, for this experiment, although the waterwheel spun, a blade fell off and the waterwheel didn’t spin so smoothly. I think that I can improve by choosing a better empty plastic bottle and securing the pieces together more firmly, so no blades fall off and the waterwheel can spin more smoothly without stopping once in a while.

The Big Idea:

Again, I have learned that the power of flowing water is a useful way to produce energy. I think that it is very important and useful for us to know that the power of flowing water is an option to generate energy, since in real life, waterwheels can help generate electricity in dams. When waterwheels generate electricity from dams, they don’t cause any pollution (although dams do destroy many river habitats) so it helps us to conserve more energy. When we are choosing a way to generate energy that is least harmful to our environment, we can help save our planet Earth.