Wind-Powered Elevator Challenge
Participants build a working model of a windmill that lifts a load, like an elevator! They will discover how the wind is used to create green, sustainable energy.
This workshop discusses topics which can lead to feelings of eco-anxiety among volunteers, educators and youth if not presented in a thoughtful manner. The most important things to remember are to be honest, hopeful, developmentally appropriate, and action oriented. This workshop was created with these guidelines in mind. For more details, refer to the volunteer resource, Being Conscious of Eco-Anxiety.
What You Need
Materials
- Pinwheel Template
- Straws, dowels, or a pencil
- String or yarn
- Cardboard
- Pin
- Tape
- Miscellaneous craft supplies and recyclables
- Fan (optional)
- Small load to lift, like an eraser or small toy
- Design Worksheet or piece of scrap paper
- Writing utensil, markers or crayons
Guide:
Safety Notes
Ensure that all recyclable materials are thoroughly washed and sanitized before the Outreach visit.
What To Do
- Introduce the concept of wind energy and how wind energy was used in the past to do work (optional).
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Separate participants into small groups. Their challenge is to build a windmill that lifts a small item (load). They may choose to have their windmill do another job.
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Give each group a design worksheet or a piece of scrap paper. They will use this space to design their windmill. Their windmill must include:
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Three sails or blades (pinwheel or your own design)
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Body to attach blades to and house machinery, like a recycled container or a structure made out of craft supplies
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Mechanism that connects the blades and allows it to turn, such as a dowel, straw or pin
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A mechanism to lift the load, like a dowel that winds up a piece of string connected to a toy.
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Note: The windmill does not have to look like a traditional windmill. Encourage participants to be creative in their design!
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They will use the supplies provided to build a working model of the windmill.
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Set up a small fan for testing. If no fan is available, they may manually turn the blades to check if the machinery works. The main things to observe are:
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Do the sails turn?
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Does the windmill lift the load?
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Provide participants with enough time to make changes to their model as necessary.
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As a large group, encourage participants to share their ideas and reflect on the challenge. Example questions include:
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What was something interesting that another group did with their windmill?
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Was there anything you could improve on if you had more time, knowledge, or resources?
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If you were to build your windmill in real life, what job would you like it to do for you?
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Discuss the importance of renewable and green energy in the context of climate change.
Discovery
Windmills can be thought of as an early version of a wind turbine. They were used hundreds of years ago to convert wind energy into rotational energy to do work, such as mill grains and pump water. In this activity, participants design a windmill that will lift an object off the ground, like an elevator. In modern times, wind turbines are complex machines that convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy, which travels by large power lines to our communities and homes.
Wind, like moving water and solar power are forms of renewable energy. Renewable energy comes from resources that replenish themselves either equal to or faster than the speed at which we consume them. Wind power is also a form of green energy, meaning that it does not produce greenhouse gases. Some of the things we do, like burning fossil fuels, add too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
This is important because greenhouse gases act like an invisible blanket for the planet, trapping heat from the sun, which causes the planet to heat up faster than it should, changing the Earth’s weather and precipitation patterns. This process is called climate change. Generating electricity from renewable and green energy sources is one way of limiting and preventing climate change!
- For a more in-depth engineering challenge, incorporate the concepts of The Design and Build Process.
- For windmills to operate effectively, they need to face the direction of the wind. The direction and strength of the wind can change daily. In early times, this was done by moving parts of the windmill manually. As technology advanced, this process became more sophisticated, allowing the body and the sails of the windmill to adjust with little to no effort.
- Extend the challenge by having participants consider ways their windmill could adjust to changes in wind direction. If there is enough time, have them incorporate those changes into their model.
What's Happening?
Windmills can be thought of as an early version of a wind turbine. They were used hundreds of years ago to convert wind energy into rotational energy to do work, such as mill grains and pump water. In this activity, participants design a windmill that will lift an object off the ground, like an elevator. In modern times, wind turbines are complex machines that convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy, which travels by large power lines to our communities and homes.
Why Does it Matter?
Wind, like moving water and solar power are forms of renewable energy. Renewable energy comes from resources that replenish themselves either equal to or faster than the speed at which we consume them. Wind power is also a form of green energy, meaning that it does not produce greenhouse gases. Some of the things we do, like burning fossil fuels, add too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
This is important because greenhouse gases act like an invisible blanket for the planet, trapping heat from the sun, which causes the planet to heat up faster than it should, changing the Earth’s weather and precipitation patterns. This process is called climate change. Generating electricity from renewable and green energy sources is one way of limiting and preventing climate change!
Investigate Further
- For a more in-depth engineering challenge, incorporate the concepts of The Design and Build Process.
- For windmills to operate effectively, they need to face the direction of the wind. The direction and strength of the wind can change daily. In early times, this was done by moving parts of the windmill manually. As technology advanced, this process became more sophisticated, allowing the body and the sails of the windmill to adjust with little to no effort.
- Extend the challenge by having participants consider ways their windmill could adjust to changes in wind direction. If there is enough time, have them incorporate those changes into their model.
