Journal 4-3

Alana Prettitore
April 20, 2008
Journal 4-3

Wind Turbines

I. Research Question

The most efficient types of wind turbines appear to be ones made from the company in Montana, Terra Moya Aqua. They manufacture new vertical-axis wind turbines that are said to produce energy at 43-45% efficiency; this costs only 2.5 to 3.5 cents per kwH. Some others produce about 50% efficiency. Yet, I haven’t seen anything that goes higher than that.

II. Summary

This week, we worked entirely on the wind turbine labs. My group has been very successful. We created our propellers out of cardboard and the lunch trays. We are testing which materials and weights are more effective. So far, because of limited abilities to utilize the fan, faulty batteries, and other technical difficulties, no conclusive evidence has been obtained. However, I hypothesize that the most efficient propellers will be the ones that weigh the least. They will have less wind resistance but just enough to have enough thrust to turn around the axel.

Then, we watched a video on a scientist by the name of Tesla. Honestly, I had never heard of him, even though he was an unbelievable genius that made many indispensable contributions to modern society. Without his mind and revolutionary, out-of-the-box thinking, where would we be today? He was a source of inspiration for many even though he suffered socially. His personal and financial lives were quite disheartening. It is a shame that he is not honored in our society as a man who overcame much adversity with courage and bravery. History has chosen to put Edison on a pedestal and ignore this scientist. However, there are many great men and women who we will never know and who will make but a paragraph in the history books.

III. My Inquiry

What other great scientists have existed/exist that made unbelievable contributions, like Tesla, but have not been the typical ones that are propagandized?