How to Build a Waterwheel
Materials:
Large aluminium pie dish, dowel, cotton reels, wood to build a stand, small mass, strong glue, string, source of water.
Construction of waterwheel:
- Study the photograph above carefully.
- Carefully cut out the flat centre circle of the aluminium pie dish.
- Divide the circle into eight equal sections, as shown in the diagram.
- Cut along each line until 15 mm from the centre.
- Carefully fold each section to make a ledge, as indicated by the red broken lines.
- Use sections of wood to build a simple stand large enough to hold the wheel. See photographs. Drill holes in both sides to take the dowel.
- Push a piece of dowel through the centre of the wheel, place a cotton reel on either side of the wheel, position it between the two sides of the stand and glue the cotton reels to the wheel.
- Glue a cotton reel to one end of the dowel to act as a pulley.
- Attach a small mass to the pulley with a short piece of string.
- Check that when the wheel is rotated the string winds around the pulley and raises the mass
Using the waterwheel:
The simplest way to demonstrate the waterwheel is to place it in a large bowl and gently pour water from a jug onto the blades of the wheel. This should provide enough energy to raise the mass. The water can then be reused (think conservation!) If you have a stream or shallow river nearby which can be used safely, then the design could be adapted to operate in those environments.