A power plant generator contains wheels called turbines. To produce
electricity, the blades of the turbines must spin. Different kinds
of energy can be used to spin turbines. In this experiment, you
can use a pinwheel to represent a turbine. If you need help answering the questions, see the pages in this section called “Energy Comes in Many Forms” and “Energy Can Move and Change.”
| Safety Tip: Only do this experiment with an adult’s help. |
Materials
- Plastic pinwheel on a stick
- Teakettle
- Hot plate or stove burner
- A printed copy of this activity
- A pencil to write your answers
Procedure
Print this page before you start.
1. Place the blades of a pinwheel under a stream of cold running water.
What happens? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
What kind of energy transfer is taking place? __________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. Under adult supervision, fill the teakettle about half full of water and place it on the burner. Turn the burner on.
What kind of energy transfer takes place as the water heats up? __________
______________________________________________________________
3. For this step, make sure to use an oven mitt to protect your hand from getting burned. Under adult supervision, use the oven mitt to hold the stick and position the pinwheel blades in the path of the steam when the kettle boils.
What happens to the pinwheel? ____________________________________
______________________________________________________________
What kind of energy transfer is taking place? __________________________
______________________________________________________________
In this experiment, what kind of energy source did you use to create the steam?
______________________________________________________________
In many power plants, steam is used to run generator turbines. What kinds of energy sources could be used to produce steam in a power plant? _________
______________________________________________________________
