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Lesson · Grade 7 · Science

Wind power: how moving air becomes electricity

  • Grade 7
  • Science
  • 1 min 12 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC7-SC-27

The video builds one labelled front-view diagram step by step: wind arrows blow in, a turbine's blades spin on a tower, a zoomed inset shows the shaft turning a generator, and a wire carries current down to light a home, while a side panel traces the energy chain and then lists the pluses (no fuel burned, no smoke or carbon dioxide, never runs out) and minuses (no wind means no electricity, turbines are big, noisy and can harm birds). It ends on the one-line recap that wind turns the blades, the blades turn a generator, and the generator makes electricity. The scene is in scenes/lib_sci_wind_power.py (class LibSciWindPower), renders without errors at about 63 seconds with 13 narrated lines, and the checked frame sheet is at media/sci-wind-power.sheet.png.

Concept: Wind power

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In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

How can the wind make electricity? Let us find out.

Wind is moving air. Moving air carries energy.

Transcript

What the lesson says

How can the wind make electricity? Let us find out.

Wind is moving air. Moving air carries energy.

A wind turbine has long blades on top of a tall tower.

The wind pushes on the blades, so they turn.

The blades are fixed to a shaft, so the shaft turns too.

Inside the top of the tower, the shaft turns a generator.

A turning generator makes electricity, which travels along wires to our homes.

So the energy of the moving air becomes electrical energy.

No fuel is burned, so there is no smoke and no carbon dioxide.

The wind will never run out, so wind power is renewable.

But when the wind stops, the turbine stops, and no electricity is made.

Turbines are also big, make some noise, and can harm birds that fly into them.

Wind turns the blades, the blades turn a generator, and the generator makes electricity.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 7

Science, Physics: electricity is generated in different ways with different environmental impactsBC7-SC-27

Previous: Hydroelectric Power: How a Dam Makes ElectricityNext: Solar power: how a solar panel turns sunlight into electricity

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

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