... explore

The following questions will make you curious and prepare you for the experiments with your handmade handcrank power plant. Search for answers. If you do not find answers for every question, it is ok.  

 
... explore: power plants and energy sources

look carefully at the pictures and try to answer the following questions.

Questions:
What kinds of power plants do you know?
What is the name of the device that generates the electricity and in which type of power plant is this device missing?
Power plants are powered by various energy sources.   Which energy sources do you recognize in the images?  
Do you know any other sources of energy?   (E.g., coal is an energy source)

Water power plant

1) Turbine
2) Generator
3) Flowing water
4) Connection to the electrical grid

Wind power plant

1) Rotor
2) Generator
3) Wind
4) Connection to the electrical grid

Nuclear power plant

1) Turbine
2) Generator
3) Steam
4) Connection to the electrical grid
7) Reactor
8) Cooling tower

Solar power plant 

1) Solar cells
3) Sunlight
4) Connection to the electrical grid
5) Local consumers
6) Battery

...explore: Your kinetic energy

Power plants generate electricity from various energy sources. But you yourself are a kind of power plant, consuming the energy source known as "food".

Question:
Can you create electricity with your kinetic energy?  
Answer the question with an experiment!  

Instructions for the experiment

materials

1) 1 Motor with blue and red cables
2) silicone tube
3) light emitting diode (LED)

• Cut a silicone tube-piece of 1 cm length.

• Put the silicone tube-piece on the axis of the motor.
• Make sure that there is 1 mm clearance between the tube and the motor housing.

• Remove the insulation at both cable ends.
• Twist each of the fine wires into a tight strand.
• Wrap around each of the 2 connecting pins of the LED a tightly twisted strand.

Caution: The two LED connector pins and the fine wires of the cables must not directly touch the opposing poles. Otherwise, a short circuit can occur and the light will not shine.
Note: a short circuit would be problematic for a battery. A short circuit would very quickly empty a battery. This would also produce a lot of heat.

• Use your fingers to vigorously turn the motor shaft.
• Do you see anything unusual?
• Does anything change if you turn the shaft in the other direction?

• Does the LED light up for a short time?

• Does anything change when you use the foam stick to spin the motor shaft?
• What do you observe?

Maybe you are able to make the LED light up for a short time.

Question:
Did you have any ideas on how you can continuously generate electricity for as long as possible?
Draw your ideas and make some notes.