WIND TURBINE BLOGPOST

Wind Turbine Blogpost

Background: 

There are a few primary concepts a person would have to understand in order to comprehend the way in which my wind turbine functions. A few of the most important ones are ... 

• Electromagnetic Induction: Beneath my wind turbine are loops of wire. Not far away from these coils of wire are the magnets. The bottle is made to spin and the magnets move in and out of the magnetic field, creating a change in the magnetic field. This induces a voltage which can create a current! The current can be used for multiple different things, but in our generator, the current is directed towards trying to light a lightbulb. 
• Torque: Torque is the reason that the wind-turbine rotated! To get a torque, you need a Force and Lever arm. Force and lever arm are inversely proportional meaning that if one goes up, the other goes down. Therefore, we tried to have quite a long lever arm so that we wouldn't need as much force to make the fan blades turn. We used the cut open flaps on the bottle as the lever arms and the force was the wind from the fan. When working together, we got the fan blades to spin! 
• Friction: Friction was something that we had to be aware of in our wind-turbine creation process. Friction is the resistance that one surface of an object encounters when moving on another. To have a well functioning wind turbine, you need to have as little friction as possible. Have a smooth and sleek surface (using sandpaper on wood or cardboard to soften it) can make all of the difference in the speed an object can reach. 

Materials & Methods: 

• An abundance of copper wire (70+ loops per coil)
• Strong magnets (5 or 6 pairs)
• 2 liter soda bottle
• String
• X-Acto knife (& band-aids)
• Cardboard box
• Tape 
• PATIENCE!!!! 
• Circular platform (for bottle to rest on) 

(A and D) This is a picture of the completed wind-turbine. You can clearly see the opened flaps meant to capture the wind.

(B) In this picture you can see the coils of wire beneath the device.

(A and C) In this image you can see a the magnets evenly spaced around the spinning platform. You can also see the opened flaps up close that catch the wind.

Results:

1. We created 0.02 volts and 0.02 amps of current

1. Sadly we were NOT able to generate enough voltage/current to light a lightbulb. I think that this is because our device was a little bit heavy and if it was lighter, it would have been able to move faster and generate more voltage/current.

Discussion: 

I learned a lot from doing this wind turbine project. I think that the most important lesson I learned was to keep the plan very simple. In the beginning, Mark had many ideas with big metal parts and robotics pieces and in all honesty, I felt lost. I wasn't sure if all of these big shiny metal pieces were going to fit together, but because I didn't really understand, I didn't speak up. It was not until the day before the project was due that we realized our design was not going to work. This is when I finally spoke up and introduced the idea of a cardboard box and a much simpler and basic design. This idea worked out WAY better and ran smoothly and we were able to put together an awesome wind-turbine faster than we had ever expected. We didn't generate a whole lot of voltage and this is because of the friction we had along with the magnets not being close enough to the coils of wire. What did work really well were the fan blades and the string suspending the bottle. What I would do differently would be to cut bigger fan blades and have the magnets rotating slightly close to the coils of wire. Overall, I really enjoyed making this wind turbine and it was all worth it to see it spinning in the end! 

My Top Ten

The Top Ten Place I See Physics in The Bahamas

1. When I go home for any one of the breaks, one of the first things I do is go to the beach! Before this class, I never pondered the physics behind the rising and falling of the tides. Although, after a long year in Ms. Lawrence's class, I think I can explain why I have to move my towel a little farther up the beach as the day goes on. I found out the earth experiences 2 high tides and 2 low tides every day! This means that there are 6 hours in between a high and low tide, and a full 12 hours from a low tide to get back to a low tide or a high tide to get back to a high tide. The alignment of the moon with the earth are what cause our tides. There are two types of tides, Spring and Neap. Spring tides occur when the moon, sun, and earth are all in a line. Neap tides occur when the moon is perpendicular to the sun. A tidal bulge occurs because of the moon's gravitational pull on the earth.

2. At home, we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. A lot of the time we will pick a nice arrangement of fruits including avocados, mangoes, bananas and starfruit and put them in a little bowl on the middle of our coffee table in the living room. This reminds me of Newton's Third Law which states that, "For every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction." This means that every time you exert a force on an object, and equal and opposite force is put back on you (like punching someone). These two forces are called action and reaction pairs. In this case, the bowl of fruit and the earth are not actually an action/reaction pair! The force between the bowl of fruit and the earth may be equal and opposite, but because we must take into account the table, it cannot be called an action/reaction pair. Although, if the fruit was taken off of the table and placed on the floor, the earth would be pulling the fruit down with the same amount of force that the fruit is pulling the earth up with. 

3. After a long day at the beach, before driving the boat home, I always beg my dad to take us to Green Cay. Green Cay is a small uninhabited island with a huge cliff on the ocean side. If you climb up the rocks (very carefully) you can make it to the top of the the cliff and jump off into the water below. After physics class, I began to wonder how fast I was really moving as I dropped down towards the clear water below. I now know that from just knowing the height of the cliff and my own weight, I could easily calculate my velocity at each second of the fall and how much distance I covered at each second. (EVEN MORE INTERESTING) If I got a running start, I could find out my vertical velocity as well as my horizontal. All of this information can be found out with the formulas:

Vertical

V=gt

d=1/2gt^2

v=at

d=1/2at2

Horizontal

(at constant v)

v=d/t

d=vt

(Actual picture of Green Cay ft. My dad & I)

4. At home, especially during the summer, the power goes out ALL THE TIME. It can be one of the most annoying things ever, and I thought it was a very common thing before coming to the United States. Our power companies try to save money by decided when to just shut off the electricity for our homes.... (fun, right?) No! Luckily, I live in a small neighbourhood and a lot of our homes are connected to a generator. In simplest terms, a generator is a device that is made of coils of wires and magnets. Generators have mechanical energy and turn it into electrical energy. Much like the wind turbines we made in class, generators rely on electromagnetic induction to generate power. This is the magnets moving through the coils of wire. Below is a picture of what it looks like when the power goes out.......

5. In the 6th grade we had a huge project called "Exhibition". In this project, we were allowed to pick virtually anything and do an extensive project about it. One of my classmates chose electricity. He final debut was sadly unsuccessful because of the intense humidity at home! She attempted to rub a balloon to her hair and stick it to the wall. Sadly, it didn't work out as planned. BUT if we had been it a colder, and more dry climate, it would have! This is what would have happened....

--> The balloon would be charged by friction when rubbed against her head. When it is brought towards the wall, the wall would polarize. This means that all of the positive charges in the wall would be drawn towards the negative charges in the balloon.

--> The positive charges in the wall would move as close to the balloon as possible while all of the negative charges in the wall would move away from the balloon.

--> The distance between the opposite charges (attractive) would be smaller than the distance between the like charges (repulsive).

--> F=kq1q2/d^2 : (Coulomb's Law) Since there is a greater distance between the repulsive forces, the force between them will be less than the attractive forces.

--> Therefore, the balloon SHOULD HAVE stuck to the wall! 

6. Have you ever experienced a really really REALLY bad hurricane? Well I have! Actually, multiple a year! Due to the tropical atmosphere in The Bahamas, we get hurricanes all the time. As you know, in a hurricane there is a lot of thunder and lightening. For this reason, it is smart to keep our electronics inside of a metal box so that if our house were to get struck by lightning, our devices would be okay. Objects such as DVD players and computers are put inside of metal boxes to protect them from getting an electric shock and breaking. Charges buildup on the corners of objects making them more susceptible to shocks, so if this object were to (lets say get struck by lightening) the wires and everything inside of it would get fried and it would be useless. But, if this object were to be placed inside of a metal box, it would be saved. This is because when the charges attempt to build up on the corners, the metal displaces them and they all become neutral. This keeps the device from having a sort of charge and keeps it safe from breaking. 

7. It takes a lot of effort to load up the car for a beach day with bags and coolers and a paddle board. This is where a ramp could really come in handy! If I was trying to load a cooler (200N) into my car using a ramp, I can find out how much force I am actually putting into it, with the help of my simple machine. (We must remember that a simple machine does not decrease the amount of work done overall, it just breaks it up into smaller increments by using a longer distance so that it feels easier.) If the ramp was 10m high and 10m I would solve a problem like this...

Work-in = Work-out

F-in • d-in = F-out • d-out

F • (10) / 10 = 200 • 10 / 10

F = 200N

8. NO ONE pays attention to the traffic lights at home. Almost everyone is a terrible driver and I can't count how many silly car accidents I have seen over the years. If Bahamian drivers did listen to the traffic lights however, they might know how they actually work. I sure do! This is how.... 

A traffic light knows to change because of the process of Electromagnetic Induction. Beneath the concrete, at a traffic stop light, there is a HUGE loop of wires. When a car moves over the wires, a change in the magnetic field is caused. This, in turn, induces a voltage. The voltage then causes a current and this current sends a signal to the traffic light telling it to change. 

9. When i'm at home, I love to take pictures! I never knew what went on inside of the camera until this year in physics class! A camera has 2 oppositely charged plates inside of it. These two plates are NOT connected. You add charges to each plate, thus increasing the Force and energy of the electric field between the plates. When you briefly connect the plates (push the button on your camera to take a picture) energy rushes from one plate to the next and a light is produced (flash.) You cannot use flash continuously because you need to give the charges time to build up enough to create light. 

10. Fishing is a major industry in the Bahamas! My dad, my uncle, and almost every one of our family friends goes fishing on a regular basis. Sometimes, I go with them. One time (over christmas break) I realized that when I was reeling in a fish, I was using torque. Torque is what causes rotation. An object needs two things to have a torque, a force and a lever arm. In this situation, I was the force and the fishing rod was the lever arm. If I had a super long fishing rod, I wouldn't need to exert a lot of force. Oppositely, if I had big 'ol muscles, I wouldn't need to have a long fishing rod.

AND THATS 10 THE TOP 10 PLACES I SEE PHYSICS IN THE BAHAMAS!!!!!!!

UNIT 7 SUMMARY

UNIT 7 BLOGPOST SUMMARY

Magnetism

In this past unit we covered A LOT of important information. The subtopics were ... 

• Magnetism (magnetic poles & electromagnetism)
• Forces on charged particles in an electric field (motors)
• Electromagnetic induction and common applications
• Generators and Energy Production
• Transformers and Energy transfer from Power company to Home

Magnetism -->

Magnetism included magnetic poles, electromagnetism, domains, magnetic fields, cosmic rays and compasses. The source of all magnetism is moving charges. 

1. There are magnetic poles at each side of the earth. It is important to remember that the South and North are opposite from what we generally know them as when you draw your diagram. To show the magnetic field lines through the N and S poles, you must draw the magnetic field lines from S to N, out and around the earth and then back down. 
2. Domains show whether or not an object is magnetised. We use many arrows going in the same direction to show that it is strongly magnetised and just a couple of arrows, but all going different directions to show that it is unmagnetized. 
3. A compass is a device that shows the same direction of the magnetic field
4. Newton's 3rd Law tells us that both sides of a permanent magnet have the same force
5. If you had to show the magnetic field lines around a current carrying wire, if the I —> back to front (down) <— I front to back (up)

Forces on charged particles in an electric field (motors) -->

In this section, we focused on Cosmic rays and motors

1. Cosmic rays are charged particles moving through space which cause the phenomena known as the Northern Lights. At the two poles on the earth, the charges are moving parallel to the magnetic field and thus, feeling a force. Therefore, these rays can enter the atmosphere. (Perpendicular would be deflected) 

2. A motor consists of two parts, a current carrying wire and a magnet. A current carrying wire feels a force in a magnetic field. Motors have electrical energy and mechanical energy. In class we made our own motors, and below you can see a short video of mine working!

3. This is also the unit that we learned about the right hand rule where the thumb=force, index= current, middle=magnetic field

Electromagnetic induction and common applications -->

Electromagnetic induction and what it can be applied to was a section that we spent a lot of time on.

1. Electromagnetic induction is the process in which an object feels a force without actually being touched by something else. We learned more about this with traffic lights, metal detectors, and credit card machines. E.G. --> Traffic light... Beneath the concrete, at a traffic stop light, is a loop of wires. When a car moves over the wires, a change in the magnetic field is caused. This, in turn, induces a voltage. The voltage then causes a current and this current sends a signal to the traffic light telling it to change.
2. It is almost the exact same thing in a credit card machine. There is a loop of wires in the machine. When the credit card runs through, it causes a change in magnetic field. The change in magnetic field induces a voltage. The voltage causes a current that carries the message to the machine and signals the machine to tell it who's card it is.

Generators and Energy Production -->

Generators are made of coils of wire and magnets. Generators have mechanical energy and electrical energy. A generator relies on electromagnetic induction (do not get this confused with a motor, a motor relies on a current carrying wire and a force in the magnetic field).

Transformers and Energy transfer from Power company to Home -->

The final topic we focused on was transformers. Transformers are what are seen on the ends of our computer and phone chargers. Here are some facts about transformers...

• Boxes that contain two different loops of wires
• There are step-down and step-up transformers. Step down have more loops of wire on the primary coil and step-up transformers have more loops of wire on the secondary coil.
• Requires AC --> It requires AC because in order to induce a voltage, it needs to have a changing magnetic field. Alternating current is a constant change in current which changes the magnetic field

MOTOR BLOG-POST

Building A Motor

This week in Physics, we learned how to build a very basic motor! The only supplies that we were allowed to use were...

1. A battery
2. Rubber band
3. Copper wire
4. 2 paper clips
5. A magnet

I had an EXTREMELY difficult time creating my motor. I'm not sure if it was a poor connection between the ends of the paperclip and the magnet, or if it was because my copper wire was not scraped the right way, but I was one of the last (possibly the very last) person to get their motor to work in my class. Although, when the loop finally spun, it was very rewarding. I will explain my process.

1. I picked my battery (one that looked new) and got two paper clips
2. I unbent the paperclips and tried to come up with a smart way to form them so that the coil of wire could rest on them without falling off. It took me a couple different tries to get a good design. I finally decided on one that looped around the coil so that it would not fall off.
3. Next, I secured the paperclips with a rubber band (wrapped around twice)
4. Then I took the copper wire and wrapped it around two of my fingers a couple of times leaving about 2 inches on each end.
5. Then, I took the coil and scraped each side so that it could have a good connection
6. Finally, I placed the magnet on the battery directly below (and as close as possible) to the wire
7. And then....... after many tries........ the coil spun!!

Why did this work???

Well, the way in which you scrape the wire is very important. A torque is created which forces the wire to rotate when current (from the magnetic field) pushed the 'current carrying wire' perpendicularly. One side makes the wire turn halfway, and the other side finishes the cycle.