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I used cereal box cardboard and got 5th at MI states

Congratulations! How much voltage did you produce?

1074 on low, and 1678 on high. I think we did average on the test. But, your voltage depends on which motor you used, so that's why I generally dislike comparing actual voltages...

illusionist wrote:1074 on low, and 1678 on high. I think we did average on the test. But, your voltage depends on which motor you used, so that's why I generally dislike comparing actual voltages...

That's true. Many competitions had a similar voltage range, though, so there must have been some relationship.

Need ideas of all of the materials, and how to build a wind power generator. Div. C. (Wyoming)

Need help fast!
Thanks!

Ok, starting at the basics.
For the turbine (the blades and the CD), your going to need some sort of material for the blades (something strong and light), an adhesive for attaching parts, and a CD to mount the blades on.
For the generator, you will need a CD motor (try to find a cheap CD player and rip the motor out of that), you will need a resistor (read the rules for the type of resistor), and a multimeter for measuring the voltage.
As for ideas for turbine design, look through the earlier pages in this forum, and also take a look at last year's forum. It was called Physical Science Lab last year.

what would you use to cut CDs? we have tries a few tools that work well, but nothing that doesn't melt parts of the cd and leave plastic burrs.

kjhsscioly wrote:what would you use to cut CDs? we have tries a few tools that work well, but nothing that doesn't melt parts of the cd and leave plastic burrs.

I have two methods that work. One is scissors. The other is using a cutting bit on a dremel. It does melt the plastic, but when it hardens again it's much weaker than the unmelted plastic, so you can break it off with your fingers and leave a flat surface.

I've found melting through with a pencil-tip soldering iron and then sanding the edge smooth works pretty well.

ichaelm wrote:

kjhsscioly wrote:what would you use to cut CDs? we have tries a few tools that work well, but nothing that doesn't melt parts of the cd and leave plastic burrs.

I have two methods that work. One is scissors. The other is using a cutting bit on a dremel. It does melt the plastic, but when it hardens again it's much weaker than the unmelted plastic, so you can break it off with your fingers and leave a flat surface.

I use the dremel drill with a cutting bit as well. If the plastic happens to be too hard to break off, you can always sand it off.