Tuesday

Sam was back and we explained our new idea to him. As other groups overheard, we were made fun of.

In earnest, today, we began to gather the final materials we will need to make our final project. We decided that the lightest material we can have spin in the air is the plastic that makes up overhead slides. However, we found out, after testing it, that the plastic was too floppy.

http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/piggybacks_the_hat_pinact.htm

The site above was where we got our pinwheel pattern from. We made a miniature pinwheel model which, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of as we don't have a camera. We traced and cut out the pattern on math slides, sticking a T-Pin through the center to hold it together. After holding it front of the fan, we saw that it spun very well and VERY fast. Mass production of these babys seemed like the best plan, though we would have to make them larger. We began to cut out larger ones to test to see how well they spun in the wind.

Sam wanted to see how much power each of our generators could produce so we mounted our small prototype pinwheel one of our generators with tape to see if it would spin. It did, and, in high winds (as in, putting the fan on high and holding the pinwheel close to it) it produced 1/2 volt of electricity.

Hazzah.

Still, as I am worried about the slides not working, I want to go to the dump during class tomorrow to find sheet metal.