Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Renewable Energy-An Introduction 7
Science Fair Projects 8
The Scientific Method 9
Experiment Notebook 10
Safety First 11
Chapter 2 Where Does Energy Come From? 13
2.1 What Powers Your Life? 15
Chapter 3 Using Electricity 22
3.1 Make an Electric Circuit 24
3.2 Measure the Voltage of a Battery 27
3.3 Measure the Voltage in a Circuit 29
3.4 Measure Current 31
3.5 How Much Power Is Your Motor Using? 35
3.6 Generate Electricity 37
3.7 Generate Electricity With a Motor-Generator 39
3.8 Measure the Output Voltage of the Generator 43
3.9 Make an Electrical Generator 45
Chapter 4 Solar Power 51
4.1 Measure the Output of a Photovoltaic Cell 53
4.2 Power an LED With a Photovoltaic Cell 58
4.3 Connect Two Photovoltaic Cells in a Series Circuit 59
4.4 Power an Electric Motor With Solar Cells in a Series Circuit 63
4.5 Connect Two Photovoltaic Cells in Parallel 64
4.6 Use the Parallel Circuit to Power a Motor 66
4.7 Make a Solar-Powered Car 67
4.8 Build and Test a Solar Water Heater 73
4.9 Make a Non-Circulating Solar Water Heater 76
Chapter 5 Wind Power 78
5.1 Make a Sail Car 81
5.2 Generate Electricity From the Wind 86
5.3 Build a Wind Turbine Test Station 88
5.4 Test Your Wind Turbine 93
5.5 Measure the Voltage Output 94
5.6 See the Effect of Adding a Load to the Circuit 95
5.7 How Much Power Is Your Turbine Generating? 97
5.8 Use a Geared Turbine 99
Chapter 6 Hydropower 103
6.1 Make an Overshot Waterwheel 108
6.2 Make a Hydroelectric Generator 113
6.3 Make a Geared Waterwheel 115
6.4 Increase the Head and Measure the Output Voltage 117
Appendix: Sources for Wind Power Kits 120
Glossary 121
Further Reading 124
Internet Addresses 125
Index 126
