Liam’s group in his biology class is building a wind turbine. After much planning and watching instructional videos on youtube, they started the building process. Fortunately our ever-resourceful friend Chris was able to help them out over at his wood shop. On Sunday they got it assembled and built a frame–and it spins around in the wind. Better yet, it spins in the slightest breeze! Yay! You’ll see it’s made mostly of recycled materials: 2 bike wheels not being used in our basement, PVC pipe that was unused in Chris’s basement, and most exotic of all, some cedar that Chris salvaged from an old water tank on top of a Chicago building. Next up: the motor, a belt, a battery…and a permanant installation at their school.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YcUCJAcO0&hl=en&fs=1]
Looks cool. We saw lots of wind turbines on our trip to South Australia actually and it seems quite tricky to get them moving in a light breeze.
That is so interesting! Will it run on a solar battery? Will it charge its own battery from wind power? I’ve always heard that Chicago is “The Windy City.” Now we get to find out if that is really true! Good work, Liam. And that is so good of Chris to help with the project.
What a great idea-well done Liam to yourself and Chris.