Water Wheel

The Challenge

A water wheel is a machine that uses the energy of flowing water to turn a wheel. The force of the moving water is exerted against the paddles, and the rotation of the wheel is flowing to the machinery, then to the shaft of the wheel. Water wheels can be made out of metal or wood. Water wheels are used for milling flour in gristmills, grinding wood into pulp for papermaking, hammering wrought iron, machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of cloth.

Let’s Experiment and Build!

Instructions

1. Poke a hole in the middle of both paper plates the size of the straw hole
2. You can trace the straw hole onto the paper plate to make the hole
3. Tape one paper cup to the top of the paper plate, tape the second cup opposite of the first cup; repeat for cups 3 & 4
4. Tape the second plate to the other side of the cups
5. Push the straw through the hole of one of the plates all the way through to the other plate
6. Check to see if the cups will spin, if they are not able to spin, adjust the straw until the cups are moveable
7. Hold the water wheel by the straws firmly under a slow stream of water from the sink

Think about it and Additional Resources

Read about it: What are water mills?

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#WaterWheel
#ProjectExploration
#StemAtHome

Tag a friend and challenge them to do it, too!

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