Alpha science classroom： DIY a Solar Updraft Tower

Children have been exposed to the summer sun and the sun's heat is very powerful, do children know how humans convert solar heat into electricity? Today, the alpha science classroom teaches children to DIY a Solar Updraft Tower, a very simple structure that uses solar energy to heat the air and then convert it into kinetic energy, allowing children to tap into the treasure of solar energy through this fun children's natural science experiment activity. Also through this kid's science experiments project, with the children's hands to create, belong to their own first power tower, grow up to be the most powerful scientists.

Alpha Science Classroom: DIY a solar thermal wind tower, Required materials

• Black construction paper (about 20 x 20 inches).

• A smaller piece of construction paper (any color)

• Pencil

• Scissors

• Duct tape

• A piece of modeling clay

• A wooden skewer

• Needle

• A thermometer

• A lamp with an incandescent light or a heat lamp

• Paper

• Optional: sunlight, and outdoor with wind

• Optional: Timer

• Optional: white construction paper

Alpha Science Classroom: DIY a solar thermal wind tower, step-by-step tutorial.

Step 1: First, children roll black construction paper into a cone with a small top opening (2 inches in diameter) and a large bottom opening (4 inches in diameter).

Step 2: children use tape to secure the cone in place. Then, cut off the top and bottom ends so that they are straight. The cone should be about 10-15 inches tall and able to stand up on its own.

Step 3: Using a narrow cone made of black construction paper, children cut out three equally spaced 2-inch by 0.5-inch arches at the bottom of the cone. These will be your air intakes. Make sure, the cone still stands on the remaining edge.

Step 4: Children cut rectangles from the bottom of the narrow paper cone

Cut out a propeller about 3 inches in diameter from construction paper. Here is a propeller template that you can download. Bend the blades of the propeller Step 5: Kids paddle down to an angle of about 45 degrees. Cut out a propeller with four blades from a piece of paper and tape a pin to the top of the wooden skewer with the tip facing up.

Step 6: Children tape the needle to the end of the wooden skewer and make a ball out of modeling clay to place in your work area.

Step 7: Children find a wind-proof space indoors to build their solar updraft tower. It is important that there are no outside air currents in your experiment.

Step 8: Children place the black paper cone on the clay so that it is in the center of the paper cone. Insert the wooden skewer into the clay through the opening at the top of the tower so that the skewer is sticking out in the middle of the cone. The needle on top of the skewer should stick out of the cone about 1.5 to 2 inches.

Step 9: The children remove the propeller and place it on top of the needle as shown in the picture below. It should be balanced and able to turn freely. This may take some practice to make sure the propeller will sit properly on the needle.

Step 10: Children make their own updraft tower using construction paper and wooden skewers to measure the temperature of the air inside and outside the tower. Record the measured air temperature on a piece of paper.

Step 11:  children place the lamp next to the tower and point it toward the bottom of the tower. Make sure not to leave the lamp unattended during the experiment.

Step 12: children placed a small lamp next to the homemade updraft tower and then turned the lamp on and observed the updraft tower for about two to five minutes.

Step 13: After about five minutes, the children again measure the air temperature inside and outside the cone. Record these two temperatures.

Step 14: children turn off the lights and continue to observe your updraft tower for five to ten minutes. Then after another five minutes, measure the temperatures inside and outside the cone once again.

Alpha Science Classroom. DIY a solar thermal wind tower, scientific principles

The alpha science classroom teaches children that the sun is a very powerful source of heat and energy. In fact, in less than 15 seconds, it provides the Earth with as much energy as humans use in a day. Much of this energy reaches the Earth in the form of light and heat. No wonder people have long considered how to capture this energy and harness it! For the past two centuries, scientists have been considering how to harness this energy. Over the past two centuries, scientists have researched and developed technologies to convert the sun's energy directly into electricity. Today, many different methods of generating solar power exist, such as solar cells, solar thermal collectors, and concentrated solar power systems.

One of these systems, called solar updraft towers, is a solar thermal collector technology. Solar updraft towers can generate electricity from solar heat at low temperatures. The scientific concept behind this idea is based on the greenhouse effect and the chimney or smokestack effect. These power plants consist of a large collector structure and a very tall and slender tower. The collector structure resembles a giant greenhouse, consisting of a huge, transparent canopy, 6 to 65 feet (2 to 20 meters) above the ground. The tower is located in the middle of the canopy structure and has large air intakes at its base. Inside the tower are large wind turbines to generate electricity.

When the sun shines on the collector structure, the sun's heat is trapped below like a greenhouse, thus heating the air and ground beneath the canopy structure. Since hot air is less dense than cold air, it begins to rise, causing a flow of air, also known as thermal convection. There is no other way for the air to escape except through the tower. The rising air inside the tower creates a low pressure at the bottom of the tower and more hot air from the collector is drawn into the tower through the air inlet at its base. As a result, solar radiation causes a continuous updraft inside the tower. The wind turbine installed in the tower converts the energy contained in the updraft into mechanical energy by moving its blades. In the next step, this energy is converted into electricity by a generator. Although this technology seems simple and can generate large amounts of energy, no full-scale installations are currently in operation. However, several prototype models have been built and studied.

The children's solar airflow tower has started to rotate, this is the magical energy of nature, I believe the children have understood the power of solar energy. alpha science classroom through this children's natural science experiment activity, for children to open the door to explore natural science, learn more kid's science experiments activities, grow up to be the smartest natural scientists, together to protect Together we can protect our natural environment.

alpha science toys have designed a children's natural science experiment kit for children to learn about nature around us using different natural phenomena such as plants, weather, and solar energy.