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The Power of Nature! dlr Libraries STEAM Lab Series - Renewable Energy - YouTube
Channel: unknown
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(bright music)
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- [Narrator] This video
series is brought to you
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by D煤n Laoghaire-Rathdown Libraries
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in association with Mark the Science Guy
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and supported by the
Dormant Accounts Fund.
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The resources used throughout this series
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are part of the SFI
Discover Primary Science
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and Maths Programme, and ESERO Ireland.
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- Hey, everyone
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and welcome back to the STEAM Lab.
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I've been taking a little lunch break
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and staring at this toaster
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and it's got me thinking about energy.
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We get our energy from food.
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If I eat the toast,
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my body changes it into energy.
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I can then do things.
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So I get energy from the food,
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but where does the toaster
get its energy from?
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Well, it gets its energy from electricity
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and most electricity in Ireland
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comes from gas-powered stations,
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but power can also be created
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in other stations too,
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some of which are better
for the planet than others.
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Using these different forms of fuel
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helps make sure that we
don't run out of power.
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So let's investigate
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where our electricity comes from.
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- Hi Mark.
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- What kind of toaster is this?
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- Mark it is so windy out there today.
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I was up at the top of the hill
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and the wind was so strong
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that it almost knocked me over.
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- I can tell, you got leaves everywhere.
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- Hmm.
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- You make a good point though, Ali.
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Wind can be strong
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and we can get energy from the wind.
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Nowadays more and more
power is being generated
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by renewable energy.
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This can come from the wind
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turning the blades of a wind turbine,
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or from the Sun shining,
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and from generators powered
by waves or the tides.
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And this is much better for the planet.
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- If you've ever seen a big white windmill
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on top of the hill in Ireland-
- I have.
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- Then you've seen
renewable energy in action.
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So the windmills take energy from the wind
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and they change it into electricity.
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The electricity then goes to your toaster.
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Toaster heats your bread.
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(Mark crunching)
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You eat the toast,
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energy for everyone.
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- I don't know what setting
I put this toaster on.
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Electricity is made in a generator,
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which can be powered in lots of ways.
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We can burn coal, oil, gas,
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and peat to heat the water.
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This makes steam which
can turn the turbine
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and generate electricity.
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- Or we can run flowing
water over a turbine
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or the wind can push the
blades of a windmill.
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And once you can get something spinning
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then you've got the power
to make electricity.
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- Yes, but not all ways
of making electricity
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were created equal.
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Let's take a closer look
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at the different sources
of energy we can use.
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(Mark crunching)
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- We can split energy
sources into two big groups
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renewable and non-renewable.
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Renewable energy uses sources
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that are not "used up", or won't run out.
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For example, solar power
from the Sun is renewable,
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as we won't use up all of
the sunlight from the Sun.
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If we harvest energy from the Sun today,
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it'll still shine tomorrow, hopefully.
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- Non-renewable energy sources
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include things like coal, gas and oil.
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We call these fossil fuels
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and once we burn these,
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they're gone forever,
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meaning they'll eventually run out.
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So, a lot of the World
uses non-renewable energy
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to heat their homes,
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power their devices, run their cars
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and in Ireland over 95% of our energy
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comes from non-renewable
sources of energy.
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That's a lot.
- That is a lot.
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Fossil fuels might be
great for heating our homes
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but unfortunately they're
not so great for the Earth.
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When we burn fossil fuels,
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they release huge
amounts of carbon dioxide
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into the atmosphere
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which has really negative
effects on our planet.
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- Renewable energy sources
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are better for the environment
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than burning fossil fuels.
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They produce only a tiny fraction
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of the pollution that burning
fossil fuels give out,
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and switching to these
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will help protect the environment
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and provide us with cleaner air and water.
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- So Mark, if renewable sources
of energy are the future,
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then we better learn
a bit more about them.
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Without the Sun,
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we just wouldn't be here.
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There'd be absolutely no life on Earth.
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Plants use the Sun to make food.
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We eat the plants.
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We survive.
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- The Sun also gives us light
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and heat and we can use its
power to make electricity.
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We call this solar power.
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And gadgets called solar panels
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capture the Sun's energy,
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and there are two kinds of solar panel.
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Some solar panels use the heat
from the Sun to heat homes
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and water and other solar panels
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turn the Sun's energy into electricity.
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And these are called photovoltaic cells
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or sometimes solar cells.
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- Now Mark you've already had your lunch
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but I'm feeling
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pretty peckish-
- I could eat.
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- So let's try
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and harness the Sun's energy
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to make a solar powered oven-
- Delicious.
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- So to make your very own solar oven
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what you will need is a box with a lid.
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You will need some cling film,
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some black paper,
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(tin foil crackling)
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some tin foil,
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a scissors,
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some tape and some glue.
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- Cool.
- Okay.
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- I'm hungry.
- Oh, good!
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Okay, so the first step is
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you're gonna need to cut a flap
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in the lid of your box.
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So just cut along three sides
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so that it opens up like this,
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make sure you leave a
little bit of space though
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between the cuts of the flap
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and the edge of the box.
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Now, first thing we
need to do is make sure
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that the Sun's light is going
to directly go into the box.
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So to do that,
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we're going to use some tin foil.
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(tin foil crackling)
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So tape some tin foil to the inside of
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that flap in the box.
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And what this is gonna do
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is it's gonna reflect the Sun's light
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into the box.
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Try and keep the tin foil
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as flat as you can.
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So once you have that in place,
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just use a bit of tape,
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to stick it down,
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should look something like this.
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Now we're gonna be leaving
this outside in the Sun.
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So we wanna make sure
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that the dirt
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and the bugs don't get inside there.
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So this hole here
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is gonna be a bit of a problem.
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- Yap.
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- So what we're gonna do is
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we're gonna use some of
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that cling film to block off the hole-
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- Okay.
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- So Mark if you can stretch-
- I will indeed.
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- The cling film over the hole there,
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you hold that in place.
- Yes.
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- I will tape it down.
- Ooh clingy.
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- So let's put a bit of tape
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on the side there like that-
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- Gotta keep the bugs out.
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- Use a few bits of tape just to secure
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that cling film in place.
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Now we wanna make sure
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that the heat is gonna be
absorbed inside the box.
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And for that we're gonna
use some black paper.
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Cause black is really good
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at absorbing heat.
- Yes.
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- So just cut a piece of black paper,
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so that it fits inside your box.
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And then you can glue
it down to the bottom,
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little bit of glue,
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pop your paper in,
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and it should look something like that.
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- Awesome.
- Okay.
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And now it's pretty much ready to go.
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- Yes!
- If you wanna try
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and keep more heat inside your box,
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this is optional
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but what you can do is take some newspaper
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and tape it around the inside of the box.
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And that will just kind of keep some of
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that heat inside.
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Now your solar powered oven
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could be whatever size you like.
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This is obviously quite a small one.
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- Yeah little mini one.
- You can make
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some bigger ones like this.
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(soft music)
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You can make them out of things
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like takeaway pizza boxes-
- That is very cool.
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- Yeah, so what's gonna happen
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is you're gonna take your solar oven
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outside in the afternoon between like 12
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and 3 tends to be the hottest-
- Peak sunlight hours.
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- Yeah so find a sunny spot,
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put your solar oven down.
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Pop your food inside whatever it is
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you want to heat up.
- Yeah.
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- And then angle this flap to make sure
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that it directs the sunlight into the box.
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You can hold it up
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with like a ruler-
- Yeah.
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- or something like that to prop it up.
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(soft music)
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So what kind of things
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would you put in your solar oven?-
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- I think it's gotta be cookies.
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You gotta make cookies-
- Cookies, yes.
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Some sort of warm dessert-
- Camping trips type thing.
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(soft music)
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- Some chocolate
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and some marshmallows
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and some biscuits maybe?
- I like how you're thinking
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smores, very cool.
- Yeah.
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- All this talk of the Sun's energy
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is getting me a little bit thirsty-
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- Okay.
- as well though.
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Let's see how water
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can be used to make "smore" electricity.
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(soft music)
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Smore electricity.
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(soft music)
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- Let's just move on.
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- Solar oven.
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(Ali laughing)
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Water can be insanely powerful.
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Have you ever seen the damage
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a flood can cause
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or stood near a waterfall
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and heard its roar?
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(Ali roaring)
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That power can be used to make electricity
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called hydroelectricity.
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In hydroelectric power plants
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water is collected high up on a hill
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or a mountain
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and then falls down through pipes.
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Falling water,
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makes wheels called turbines spin.
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These turbines run generators,
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which make us electricity.
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- We can also get
electricity from the oceans.
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Here in Ireland
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we have a pretty wild coastline
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full of waves that surfers love.
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- Yes we do.
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- Those same waves can be
used to make electricity.
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The best waves in Europe
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are found along Western coasts
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by the Atlantic Ocean.
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Like along Ireland's West coast.
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They don't call it the Wild
Atlantic Way for nothing.
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- Using the power of
water is not a new idea.
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Water power has been used
for thousands of years.
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Ancient Romans used it to grind grain.
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So let's see how we can
make our own water wheel.
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- To make your own water wheel
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what you're gonna need
is a plastic bottle.
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You'll need some wire
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like a piece of a wire coat hanger.
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You'll need something to poke a hole with
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like a corkscrew
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and you're also gonna need a sharp knife
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or scissors so we recommend having adult
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supervision for this one.
- Definitely.
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- And then the last thing
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you're going to need is a cork.
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So the first step to
making your water wheel.
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- You need somebody
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to chop your water bottle in half?
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- Yes.
- Got it.
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Karate chop.
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(bottle crackling)
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- That was impressive.
- Why thank you.
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- Okay so cut the top off
your water bottle, very nice,
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and just put that to the side for now.
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Don't get rid of it fully,
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but put it to the side.
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What you're gonna need do then is
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punch two holes on
either side of the bottom
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of your water bowl.
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Make sure that they're big enough
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that your wire can fit through
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and spin freely like that.
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That's gonna be important
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because the spinning
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is what's gonna power our water wheel-
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- Yes.
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- So once you've done that,
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you need to prep your cork, okay?
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So what you're gonna need to do is
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get an adult to help you to poke a hole
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all the way through your cork
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from end to end
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and then get them to cut
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six slices along the side of the cork.
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It should look something like this.
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So six cuts along your cork like
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that all the way around.
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Now, bring back your old piece of bottle.
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What you're gonna need to do is
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you're going to need to cut the blades
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of your water wheel-
- [Both] From this.
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- So cut out little squares
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or rectangles of plastic.
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(plastic crackling)
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They should be,
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something a little bit like this, okay?
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Little small squares
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or rectangles of plastic.
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And now you're ready
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to assemble your water wheel.
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Take those blades for your water wheel
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that you cut.
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And you're gonna stick them
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into those slits
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that you made inside the cork.
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So once you've got all six on,
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it should look a little
bit something like this.
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- Very cool.
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- All six blades into your cork like that.
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Now putting it together is really simple.
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Thread the wire through
one side of your bottle.
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Really simple.
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What you're gonna do
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is push the wire through one of the holes.
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Thread the wire through
those holes in your cork
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and then push it back
out the other side again.
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So your cork will sit just
in the middle like that.
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So when you're cutting
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the blades for your water turbine,
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it's important to make sure
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that they're not too big.
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Otherwise it won't be able
to spin freely like this.
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And then you're ready
to add in your water.
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We painted the blades
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on this one here.
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(soft music)
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So Mark I think,
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we both have some water here so-
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- Yeah.
- Let's test them
[659]
and make sure they work.
- Let's get it turning
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okay.
- Okay.
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- Got our water.
- Ready?
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- Let's spin that water wheel.
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- Okay, here we go.
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(soft music)
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- Check that out.
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Speedy little thing, flies around.
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(water pouring)
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- And there you have it.
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That's how you make your
very own water wheel.
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(soft music)
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(water wheel rotating)
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You're making a mess.
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(soft music)
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(Ali chuckling)
[681]
- Hydroelectricity.
[682]
That's very cool.
[683]
So we've seen how Sun
[685]
and water can make electricity,
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but hmm...
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Let's check out how we can
get electricity from wind.
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- I just got the leaves out of my hair.
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- That was a good look for you.
[696]
I think you should go back to-
- Okay.
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- It's the autumn look
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it's fall.
- Okay let's let's go then-
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- Bring back the leaves.
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(people laughing)
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- Wind energy is a clean,
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sustainable solution
to our energy problems.
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There will always be wind
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and in Ireland about 30%
of the electricity we use
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comes from the wind.
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- Oh, we can make
electricity from the wind
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using wind turbines.
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They're tall towers,
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topped with blades
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like those big white ones
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you see out in the hills
in the countryside.
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When the wind blows, the blades spin
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and this spinning powers a generator
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which makes electricity,
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and a group of wind turbines together
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is called a wind farm.
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A bit different than a farm
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with full of cows
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and sheep though.
[730]
- I would love to see a sheep dog
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trying to like herd
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a load of wind turbines together.
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- I bet you would.
[736]
(Ali laughing)
[737]
- Let's have a go at making
our very own wind turbines.
[739]
Hold on to your hats.
[741]
It's about to get breezy in here.
[744]
No?
- Can we cut that line out?
[746]
- Okay to make your very own wind turbine
[749]
what you're going to need is
[750]
(Mark laughing)
[751]
a sheet of paper cut into a square.
[752]
- Okay.
- You can use coloured paper
[753]
or white paper whatever you like.
[755]
(soft music)
[755]
You're going to need a scissors.
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(soft music)
[757]
You're going to need a pencil
[758]
(soft music)
[759]
and you're going to need a thumbtack.
[761]
(soft music)
[762]
First thing you need to do is
[763]
you need to find the centre
point of your square.
[766]
(soft music)
[767]
Once you've found it,
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just mark it with your pencil.
[769]
So you got a little dot
just in the centre there.
[771]
(soft music)
[772]
Now what are you gonna do is
[774]
with your scissors
[775]
(soft music)
[775]
you are going to cut
[777]
from the corner towards the centre point.
[779]
Don't go all the way,
[780]
leave a little bit of a gap.
[781]
(soft music)
[782]
So cutting from each of the four corners
[784]
(soft music)
[785]
towards that centre point.
[787]
(soft music)
[788]
(paper crackling)
[789]
And you can make your windmill
[790]
whatever size you like,
[791]
whatever colour you like.
[793]
Now what you can do
[793]
is kind of think of it as you have
[795]
eight different points.
[796]
(birds chirping)
[797]
So what we're gonna do is
[798]
we gonna bring those points
in towards the centre
[801]
to make our windmill shape.
[803]
So grab your thumbtack,
[804]
be nice and careful with these
[805]
cause they are sharp
[806]
(birds chirping)
[807]
and take one of your points
[808]
(soft music)
[809]
and push the thumbtack
[810]
through the outside of
the paper like that.
[814]
(soft music)
[815]
Skip the next point
[816]
(soft music)
[817]
and grab the next one
[819]
and do the same thing again.
[820]
(soft music)
[821]
Pushing the thumbtack
[822]
through the outside of the point.
[825]
(soft music)
[826]
Skip the next point.
[827]
(soft music)
[827]
Grab the next one
[828]
(soft music)
[829]
and push your thumbtack through.
[831]
(soft music)
[832]
Skip the next point
[833]
and then grab the last one
[837]
and push your thumbtack through.
[839]
Once you have all of your
corners gathered together,
[841]
(soft music)
[842]
push your thumbtack through
[843]
that centre point
[845]
(soft music)
[845]
and you should have something
[846]
that looks a little bit like this.
[848]
(soft music)
[849]
Now last step,
[851]
is to put a handle onto your windmill
[853]
so that you can hold onto it
[855]
and it can blow.
[856]
Push your thumbtack into
the side of your pencil
[859]
(soft music)
[859]
and that should hold it all together
[862]
like that.
[863]
(birds chirping)
[863]
- We got our wind turbine.
- Yeah okay.
[865]
And now what you can do is
you can bring them outside
[868]
if it's a windy day
[869]
or you can use your natural breath
[871]
(soft music)
[872]
and just blow on it
[873]
and it should spin.
[876]
(soft music)
[877]
(turbine spinning)
[878]
(birds chirping)
[879]
(soft music)
[884]
- That is awesome.
[884]
- They're pretty cool aren't they?
[886]
So we can have our very own wind farm.
[888]
(upbeat music)
[888]
- Cool colours as well.
[889]
Get creative, get fun.
[890]
Make a big one, make a small one,
[891]
make some different colours.
[893]
So we've seen how we can make electricity
[895]
from renewable sources of energy,
[897]
like the Sun, wind and water.
[900]
And we need to continue to get more
[901]
of our energy from these sources.
[903]
There are some really simple things
[904]
we can all do at home right now
[906]
to help the planet.
[907]
- Why not make an effort to turn off
[909]
the lights whenever you leave the room
[910]
or turn off the TV
[912]
when you're finished with it?
[913]
We can all make an effort to reduce, reuse
[915]
and recycle our waste
[917]
and we should all try
[918]
and walk or cycle to
school wherever possible.
[919]
(soft music)
[920]
- These little changes
may not seem like much,
[922]
but they'll make a big
difference to the planet.
[924]
(soft music)
[925]
- Planet deserves that I think.
[926]
- It does.
[927]
Thanks again everyone for joining us today
[928]
in the STEAM Lab.
[929]
We hope you enjoyed all our investigations
[931]
and definitely try out a few yourself.
[934]
All of these resources we used today
[935]
are available on the SFI
Discover Primary Science
[938]
and Maths website,
[939]
primaryscience.ie
[941]
(upbeat music)
[942]
- You got any toast left?
[943]
- Where is the toast actually?
[944]
(soft music)
[945]
- Let's go find the toast.
[946]
- We wanna get the toast.
[947]
- Bye.
[948]
(tongue clicking)
[949]
(soft music)
[958]
- [Narrator] This video series is brought
[959]
to you by D煤n Laoghaire-Rathdown Libraries
[961]
in association with Mark the Science Guy
[964]
and supported by the
Dormant Accounts Fund.
[965]
The resources used throughout this series
[967]
are part of the SFI
Discover Primary Science
[970]
and Maths Programme, and ESERO Ireland.
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