Wind Power Experiment | Final Project

Wind Power Experiment

Sarah Mattero, Mike Christina, Mike McGrath, Sara Meyers, Brittny Pompilio

For our experiment, we decided that we wanted to educate the class on the benefits of wind energy. Since we had been using the Lego Mindstorms throughout the semester, we thought it would be a good idea to implement that into our experiment. After finding a Lego kit that included a windmill, we learned how to use the generator to create and store energy, which became the focus for the experiment.

Our experiment doesn’t have a full theory behind it, since we wanted to discuss different forms of clean energy and sustainability. The Lego kit was an addition to the information we gathered so that the presentation would be both educational while also showcasing the Mindstorm technology.

The experiment itself is quite simple, although it did take a while before we learned how to use the generator and windmill properly. Since the kit didn’t come with instructions, it was difficult at first to figure out how to use the generator, but once we learned that it had to be charged, we had figured out the rest. There are two plugs on the generator, one in the back that when wind was put on the windmill, (we used a fan since we were indoors) it charged and you could see the power rise in joules. When you plugged it into the front, the windmill turned on its own since it worked on the stored energy.

Our original idea was to use the stored energy to have the windmill lift a weight on a pulley, but since we didn’t have enough time to figure out how to get the second part to work, we focused on showing off the windmill in the presentation. Our experiment doesn’t have any conclusive results, but we did learn that the maximum power that can be stored in the generator is 100 joules and we watched how the energy changed with the speed of the wind.

Overall, the presentation went well. Sara and I presented our PowerPoint to the class, distributed handouts, and then showed them the windmill. The class was difficult to present to, since they seemed quite disinterested and you could tell they were probably there against their will, but it didn’t deter Sara and I from presenting. I think we managed pretty well without the rest of the group, but it would’ve been nice if there was a time that we were all present. If we had been given more time, I think we could’ve worked out the second part of the experiment and really showed how useful wind power could be, but I think we were able to explain that in the slideshow.