1. Hydroelectricity

2. Question
     What hydro-powered turbine design will produce the most lumens, Turbine H, Turbine L, or Turbine B?

3. Research Paper
Hydroelectricity can decrease the rate of air pollution. The decrease of pollution matters because the pollutants of the world are weakening our world's atmosphere. These pollutants include gas, coal, etc. Information found on the website, is very useful because it showed us how to do and show procedures. Then it modeled what it should look like throughout the project. Finally, it showed what materials are needed in order to complete the experiment. The article Reclamation Managing Water in the West found on the website, hydropower is helpful because it showed how hydroelectricity works. Next, it told how hydro-powered vehicles help the community. Finally, it explained what hydro-power really is.

4. Research Paper (Continued)
   According to the images shown in Hydroelectric Power: How it Works has information that helps the project. For one, it shows how hydropower turns into electricity. It also helps by labeling what everything is. Finally, it demonstrated what two hydropower plants looked like.

5. Hypothesis
     Based on completed research, the turbine that will produce more energy will be turbine H because it carries more water with two bigger surface area, creating more lumens.

6. Materials •Aluminum pie plate, 9 inches •Scissors •Permanent Marker
•Ruler
•Drill with 3/8-inch drill bit
•Nylon spacer, 3/8-inch inner diameter and 3/8 inch thick
•Epoxy glue
•Scotch Tape

7. Materials (Continued)
•Wood dowel, 5/16 inch wide and 2 feet long 
•Plastic bucket with removable handle, 14 quarts
•Motor
•Pulley
•Measuring cup, 2-cup is best
•Stopwatch
•Lab notebook
•Lightbulbs; 40, 50, and 60 watage.
8 Plastic cups

8. Procedures: Turbine B
1. For turbine B cut out a aluminum pie and use the outer edge to make the outside of the turbine. 2. Next cut out a circle and glue it to the outside of the pie plate. 3.Next, glue the plastic cups to the turbine to complete the turbine. 4.Hot glue nylon spacer to center of turbine. 5.Use pen or pencil to poke a hole through the center of the turbine

9. Procedures: Turbine L
1. For turbine L draw a flower with four pedals. 2. Next cut the shape out. 3. When cut out, turn sideways and create pockets for the water. 4. Hot glue nylon spacer to the middle of Turbine L. 5. Use pen or pencil to poke a hole through the center of the turbine.

10. Procedures: Turbine H
1.Take your scissors and cut out the flat bottom part of one aluminum pie plate. 2.With permanent marker copy the design from the waterwheel template 3.Cut out the aluminum circle along the 8 solid lines. End each cut at two centimeters from the center. These are the paddles of the waterwheel. 4.Carefully bend each paddle at its dotted line. Put the ruler at each dotted line, so that you can make a straight bend.

11. Procedures
1. Drill 5/16 inch hole through the middle of the waterwheel. 2. Glue the nylon spacer to the middle of the waterwheel. The nylon spacer stiffens the waterwheel. 3. Wait until the glue is fully dry before continuing. Consult the packaging of the epoxy glue for drying times. 4. After the glue dries, use thin strips of scotch tale to secure the nylon spacer to the waterwheel. Make sure the hole in the center is not covered in tape. Set the waterwheel aside. 5. Remove the handle from the bucket. Now ask an adult to dril two 3/8-inch holes where the ends fo the handle used to be. Make sure that the wood dowel can fit comforably through the holes and spin freely. It should not be a tight fit.

12. Continued Procedures
6. Remove the handle from the bucket. Now ask an adult for help to drill 2 3/8 inch holes where the ends of the handle used to be. Make sure the wood dowel can comfortable fit through the holes and spin freely. It shouldn’t be a tight fit. 7. Wind a piece of scotch tape around the middle of the wood dowel. This is to add the same thickness in order to keep the waterwheel in place. Now insert the dowel through the holes of the bucket. Move the dowel out of one of the holes and carefully slip the waterwheel onto the dowel over the piece of tape. Reinsert the dowel through the hole in the bucket. Turn the waterwheel and make sure that the wood dowel turns as well. If the dowel doesn’t move, you should gently move the waterwheel of the tape and wind another piece of tape over the original piece of tape to add thickness so the two objects move at the same time. The waterwheel must sit tightly on the dowel so that when the waterwheel turns, the dowel turns.

13. Continued Procedures
8. Wind some tape and make a little tab (by folding the end of the piece onto itself) on the dowel outside of the bucket on both ends so that the waterwheel and the dowel don’t move horizontally too much-you don’t want to the dowel slipping out of the holes. The waterwheel should be sitting In the middle of the bucket and should be able to turn freely, without hitting the bucket. Now you are ready to start converting the kinetic energy in falling water to mechanical energy. 9. To do these experiments you can use any source of moving water, like a sink or bathtub faucet, or an outdoor hose. Pick a water source where the water comes out in a steady stream. Do not use a water source where the water is a wide, cone shaped spray, it will lead to poor results. For example, a shower head would not be a good water source. If you are using an hose with several different nozzle settings choose the setting that is least like a shower and more like a steady stream.

14. Continued Procedures
10. Using the measuring cup and the stopwatch, first calculate the flow rate of the water source your using. You will do this by seeing how long it takes to fill two cups of water. Note this time down in your notebook timetable. a. Divide two cups by the number of seconds it took to filter cups. This is the flow rate and the unit of measure is cups per second. Note down flow rate in your lab notebook. b. Do not turn off the water by measuring the flow rate and testing the waterwheel or else you will have to redo the flow rate calculations.

15. Continued Procedures
11. Attach the axle to the dowel. Make sure it’s a tight fit. 12. Put the rubber band on the axle and generator. Make sure that the rubber band is taut. 13. Attach the light bulb to the wires.

16. Lightbulb Wattage Turbine B Turbine H Turbine L
25 watts
Lightbulb Lit? No
40 watts
60 watts

17. The data that was collected during this experiment is: The lightbulb in the hydroelectric generator never turned on. The experiment was run on nine occasions. The water pressure was changed each trial, but none of the water pressure changed the outcome. There were three different turbines used in the experiment to see if any of them would channel enough electricity to power the lightbulb. Three lightbulbs were utilized with the wattage of 25, 40,and 60.
Data Analysis

18. Although, the hydroelectric generator never powered the lightbulb, it helped prove some ways in which future hydroelectric generators could work. The information learned by this experiment can be used to help produce efficient hydroelectric generators which would allow for clean energy to be produced. Our findings did not prove our hypothesis, since Turbine H did not work, just like the other turbines. One observation is that under high water pressure, the aluminum turbines were weakening and becoming frail. A solution to this problem is to build turbines with a stronger metal than aluminum. The reasoning behind the water pressure being so high is because the dowel was not spinning enough, so the rubber band needed to be loosened to allow for proper rotation, but since the rubber band was not taut enough it did not produce enough energy.
Conclusion

19. Abstract
       Coal is not a renewable resource and leads to air pollution when it is burned in order to produce electricity. Hydroelectric power is a renewable resource and does not cause pollution to the environment. Although, this experiment was not successful, information was learned that will allow hydroelectric generators in the future to work. 

20. Bibliography
“Put Your Water to Work: Using Hydropower to Lift a Load.” Science Buddies, projects/project- ideas/Energy_p021/energy-power/using- hydropower-to-lift-a-load. Perlman, USGS Howard. “Hydroelectric Power: How It Works.” Hydroelectric Power: How It Works, USGS Water- Science School, water.usgs.gov/edu/hyhowworks.html.

21. Bibliography (Continued)
“Put Your Water to Work: Using Hydropower to Lift a Load.” Science Buddies, fair-projects/project- ideas/Energy_p021/energy- power/using-hydropower-to-lift-a- load.

22. Future Research
After testing, future research could be making different turbines. The variable change will be to actually calculate the watts by using a simple multiplication formula (Watt=Amp times Volt).